:^^;^::v.T 



. •» • f!f*finn':iv,rflfi-J: 






■■\. •■ r 



i- 



'•. • V'«'' ^'t'l'i ''■•J'':'!);' ■ 

:•',.' ■■'j;iiW;.cvv 



'V:-,'vV.-.'-r:.'*-7iJ.'v..v,i, 



, .'l^'' ,--'^ 



■'•"i ■••>;-,. 










^.^'^ 






■';f^.<^ ^<^^^ 






A ^: 



' '-'^^ i>' 









% 


^- 


•V 


.^'■ 


% 


\ 






,^^ ■''^^. 



\0 o. 



.<b'' % 



V r. 



-is 



A^ 



-N^ 



-. >»^ 



.-i' 



A' 



.••i> 



.4 'f, 












^^^ 
..^'^^. 






^^ 









N" ""'< 















'<-, .-^^ 






oo' 






'^^ '* •> s« 



^# 









A 



<^^'f>. 



^ < o '^ <^ # 



s'^'^. 



■\^ 



A 



o V 






^^ "V. 












■'^ .X^' 






A-^'- . 



A' 



•V. '■ .y \ 



^-" '^^ '/^- 



'■':.. .^- 









■* 



V V '' "^ '• 









^.■.:^ 



.•."o 



^-^^ 



,0 r- 






THE HISTORY 

/ ( Id 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

IN 

THE REVOLUTION 
1775-1780 

BY 

EDWARD McCRADY, LL.D. 

•# 

A MBMBBR OF THE BAR OF CHARLESTON, B.r., AND PRBSIDBNT 

OF THE HISTORKAI. 80CIKTY OF ROUTH CAROLINA 

AUTHOR or "the HISTORT of SOtVTH CAROLINA UNDRR THE PROrBIETART 

OOVRHNMBNT" and "the HISTORT OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

UNDBR THE BOYAL OOVBRNMENT " 



Nets ^orfc 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ln». 
1901 

AU riffhu r*A4rm«d 



\ 



AUTHORITIES CONSULTED AND QUOTED 

,j Adams, John, Works and Life. Boston. 
C7 Address to the Army in Keply to Strictures by Roderick McKenzie, 

Lieutenant Seventy-first Keginient. ^lajor George Hanger. 
^' London, 1789. 

Addresses. Wilmot G. De Saussure, President Cincinnati Society. 
^ 188:5-85. 

American Ahnanac and Repository of I'seful Information for the 

Years 18:>0-:)1. 
.Vmerican Commonwealth. James Bryce. 2 volumes. 1888. 
American Encyclopaedia. 

American Loyalists. Lorenzo Sabine. Boston, MDCCCXLVIL 
American State Papers, Class Y, Military Affairs. Yolume I. 

Washington, f8.32. 
American Statesmen Series, John Adams. 
Anuals of Xewbury. John Belton O'Neal, LL.D. 1859. 
Annual Register or Review of History, Politics, and Literature fo" 

the Years 1775, 1770, 1779, 1780, 1781. London. 
Bancroft's History of tiie United States. Edition of 18.r2~83. 
Belknap's History of Xew Hampshire. 178-4-92. 
Botta's IHstory of the 'War of tlie United States of America. Trans- 
lated from tlie Italian by George Alexander Otis, 3d. 2 volumes. 

183-4. 
British Military Library. London, 1801. 
Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy growing out of the Campaign in 

Yirginia, 1781. B. F. Stevens. London, 1888. 2 volumes. 
Collections of the Historical Society of South Carolina. -4 volumes. 
> Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina. 

Landrum. 
Cooley on Constitutional Limitations. Boston, 1808. 
Curwen's Journal and Letters, 1775, 1784. New York, 1845. 3d 

edition. 
Diary of Josiah Smith, an exile to St. Augustine, MS. 
Documentary History of South Carolina. Robert Gibbes. 3 volumes. 

v 



VI AUTHORITIES 

Drayton's ^lemoirs of tlie Revolution. John DravLun, LL.D. 1821. 

2 volumes. 
Elliot's Debates on Constitution, 1787. Washington, 1S36. 4 

volumes. 
Gadsden, Christopher. MS. collections bound in one volume 

entitled So. Ca. Miscellan. 
Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolutionary AVar. Charleston, 1822. 
Gazette, The South Carolina, 1732-1774, 1776. 

The South Carolina and American General, 17G6, 177."). 
The South Carolina and Country Journal, 17CC, 177-4. 
The Gazette of the State of South Carolina, 177G, 1778. 
The Royal Gazette, 1780. 
Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle for the Years 1775, 

1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781. 
George III, Bisset's History of the Reign of. London, 1803. 6 

volumes. 
George IV, Memoirs of. Robert Iluish. London, MDCCCXXX. 
Gordon, W., History of the American Revolution, 1788. 4 volumes. 
Greene, Xathanael, Life and Campaigns. C. Caldwell, M.D. Phila- 
delphia, 1819. 
Life, William Gilmore Simms. 18.'3r). 
Life and Correspondence. Hon. William Johnson. Charleston, 

1822. 2 volumes. 
Major General in the Army of the Revolution. George W. 

Greene. Boston, 1849. 
Great Commander Series. Francis Vinton (Ireene. Xew York. 
1893. 
Hildreth's History of the United States. Xew York, 1849. 3 

volumes. 
Historical Register, Continental Army. Ileitman. Washington, 

1893. 
Howe's History of the Presbyterian Chiireli. Columbia. 1S70. 
Iredell, James, Life and Correspondence. Xew York, .MDCCCLVH. 

2 volumes. 
Jackson, Andrew, Life. Parton. Xew York, 1858. 
Jeffer.son, Thomas, Writings. 1859. 

Johnsou, John, D.I)., Defence of Charleston Harbor. Charleston, 
1890. 
T' Johnson, Joseph. Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution 
in South Carolina, (niarleston. 1851. 



AUTHORITIES VU 

Journals (MS.) of General Assembly and printed Extracts thereof, 

177(3, 1778. 
Kent's Commentaries. 

King's Mountain and its Heroes. Draper. Cincinnati, ISSl 
Lacey, Life of General Edward j\I. A. Moore, jNI.D., 18.39. 
Laurens's MSS., Historical Society of South Carolina. 
Laurens's The Army Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens, 1777- 

08. Bradford Club Series. 
Lecky's History of England in the Eighteenth Century. 
Logan, John H., History of L'pper South Carolina. 
London lieinenibrancer or Impartial Repository of Events for the 

Year 1776. 
Lossings Field Book of the Revolution. Xew York, 1852. 2 volumes. 
Marion, Francis, Life. AVilliani Dobien James, A.IVL Charleston, 

1821. 
Clarion, Francis. Mason L. Weems. Philadelphia, 1857. 
McCall's History of (Georgia. Savannah, 1811. 2 volumes. 
Memoirs of the War of 1776. Henry Lee. Edition of Robert E. Lee, 

1870. 
Moore's Diary of the American Revolution. 2 volumes. 
Moore, G. H., Treason of Major-general Charles Lee. Xew York, 

C. Scribner, 1800. 
Moultrie, Memoirs of the American Revolution. Xew York, 1802. 

2 volumes. 
North Carolina in 1780-81. David Schenck, LL.D. 
Orangeburg County, History of. A. S. Salley, Jr. 1898. 
Pitkin's Political and Civil History of the United States of America. 

New Haven, 1805. 
Potter's Dwarris on Statutes and Constitution. 
Publications of the Southern Historical Association. 
Ramsay, David, ]\LD., History of South Carolina, 1809. 2 volumes. 
History of the Revolution in South Carolina, 1785. 2 volumes. 
Ramsey, J. (J. M., Annals of Tennessee. Charleston, S.C., 1853. 
Russell's ^Magazine, September, 1851. Unpublished Revolutionary 

Papers of John Rutledge. 
Sanderson's Signers of the Declaration of Indejiendence. Philadelphia, 

1824. 
Siege of Charlestown by the British Fleet and Army under tli(^ Com- 
mand of Admiral Arbuthnot and Sir Henry Clinton. J. INIun- 

sell, 1867. Limited edition. 



VIU AUTHORITIIIS 

Siuiiiis, William Gilmove, History of South Carolina, 1840, 1860. 
South Carolina in the IJevolution, published under the name of 

" Southron," containing- extracts from diaries of persons in the 

siege of Charleston. Charleston, 18.')8. 
South Carolina under the Proprietary Government, 1G70, 1710- 

McCrady, 1897. 
South Carolina under the Royal (Jovernnient, 1710, 177it. i\IcCrady, 

1899. 
Steadnian, C, History of the American War. London, 1791. 2 

volumes. 
Strictures on Lieutenant Colonel Tai'leton's History, by Roderick 

McKenzie, Lieutenant Seventy-first Regiment. London, 1787. 
Sumter, (ieneral Thomas, MS. collection in possession of Miss Mary 

Brownficld, containing Hill's Narrative. 2 bound volumes. 
Tarleton's History of the Campaigns of 1780-81 in the Southern 

Provinces of North Amei-ica, by Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton 

of the British Legion. London, :MDCCCXXXVIIL 
United Service Magazine, September, 1881. The Battle of Entaw 

Springs. I. Watts de Peyster, ]\Iajor (General, N. G. N. Y. 
Washington, George, Washington Irving's Life of. New York, 1855. 

4 volumes. 
John Marshall's Life of. Philadelphia, 1804. 5 volumes. 
Washington's Writings, edited by Jared Sparks. Boston, 1887. 12 

volumes. 
Wheeler's History of North Carolina. Pliiladelpliia, 1851. 
Wheeler's Reminiscences of North Carolina. Columbus, •()., 1884. 
Winning of the West. Hon. Theodore Roosevelt. 
Year Books, City of Charleston, during the Administrations of the 

Hon. William A. Courtenay, Hon. John F. Ficken, and Hon. 

J. Adger Smyth. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

1775 

The Revolution precipitated by the battle of Lexington — The Ameri- 
can colonies not prepared for hostilities — Both parties disown responsi- 
bility — Position of Revolutionists at the time of Lord William Campbell's 
ajipointment as Governor — South Carolina sets up the first independent 
government — Its committees and Council of Safety — Vigorous measures 
adopted — Lord William Campbell arrives — His reception — Receives and 
replies to address fi"om Provincial Congi-ess — His embarrassing position 
and vacillation — Military organization of the province — Three regiments 
organized — Scarcity of powder at Boston — South Carolina called upon 
to contribute — Opportunity of doing so singularly afforded — Expedition 
to seize powder organized by Secret Connnittee — Powder secured — Five 
thousand pounds dispatched to Continental Congress at Philadelphia — 
Captain Lempriere seizes another supply off the bar of St. Augustine — 
William Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton dominant in local affairs 

— Absurd charge of Roman Catholic conspiracy — First case of tar and 
feathering — Its evil consequences — Non-associators summoned to answer 

— The case of William Wragg — That of Lieutenant Governor William 
Bull — Divisions in the Council of Safety. 1-32. 

CHAPTER II 

1775 

German settlers in Orangeburgh and Saxe-Gotha oppose the Revolution 

— Mission of George Wagner and Felix Long — Disaffection extends — 
Cruel treatment of Thomas Browne at Augusta — Colonel Fletchall's 
conduct — Council of Safety addresses him — He refuses to take up arms 
against the King — Major Mayson brings supply of powder from Fort 
Charlotte to Ninety-Six — Moses Kirkland and Captain Polk abandon 
Major Mayson — Kirkland urges Fletchall to seize powder — Major Rob- 
inson with Robert and Patrick Cuningham secure it — Fletchall's regi- 

ix 



X CONTENTS 

mcnt refuses to sign association — Fifteen hundred men at Fletcliall's 
muster iield — Disaffection increases — The people from tlie Broad to the 
Saluda come out for the King — Lord William Campbell's correspondence 
with Fletchall — Unhappy condition of Revolutionary party — Lord Will- 
iam Campbell fails to seize his opportunities — William Henry Drayton 
and others sent to the interior to reconcile the people — The Germans 
in Orangeburgh refuse to meet them — Colonel Thomson's Kegiment of 
Rangers mutinies — Commissioners separate — Drayton and Kershaw go 
to the Dutch Fork, Kev. Mr. Tennentto the Catawba — Drayton addresses 
large gathering on Enoree River — Robert Cuninghaui appears — Meet- 
ing demands to hear both sides — Drayton on one side, and Cuningham 
on the other, discuss the questions — Drayton produces no effect — The 
heads of both parties meet at Fletchall's — Fletchall remains firm — Dis- 
approves proceedings of Congress — Commissioners proceed to Snow Hill 

— Kirkland goes to Charlestown, escapes arrest, and returns with Lord 
William Campbell's commissions and encouragement to Loyalists — Dray- 
ton assumes dictatorial powers — Orders Williamson and Richardson to 
take the field — Issues proclamation against Kirkland — Kirkland returns 
to Lord William Campbell, and is sent on board the Tamar — Cuning- 
ham, Browne, and Fletchall collect their men — Drayton marches upon 
and surprises Fletchall — Forms a camp at Ninety-Six — Fletchall, with 
twelve hundred men, marches against Drayton — A truce and conference 
take place — Drayton embarrassed by conflicting instructions from Coun- 
cil of Safety — A treaty of pacification is entered into — Its terms. 33-52. 

CHAPTER III 

1775 

Eventful era in revolutionary history of South Carolina — The Assem- 
bly meets — Lord William Campbell's speech to House of Commons 

— Reply of Commons to Governor's speech — The Governor replies — 
The House refuses to do business — Attends service at St. Philip's Church 
on day of fasting — Sermon by Rev. Robert Smith — House requests leave 
to adjourn — Takes offence at Governor addressing it as " Lower House " 

— Arthur Middleton urges seizure of estates of those who leave the 
colony — Another case of tar and feathering — Middleton's and Timo- 
thy's accounts of it — Wells, editor of the South Carolina and American 
General Gazette, opposes extreme measures — Lord William Campbell 
takes alarm — sends message to the Commons — Message referred to a com- 
mittee — Committee reports reply to his Excellency's message, which is 
adopted and sent — Last business transacted by the old Colonial Assem- 
bly — Assembly dissolved — Troubles in the councils of the Revolution- 
ists — Disaffection of the volunteer companies of Charlestown — German 



CONTENTS XI 

Fusiliers stand by Council — Differences reconciled — Lord William Camp- 
bell keeps up correspondence with friends in the back country — Kirkland's 
escape to the Tnmur — Bailey Chaney captured ; Council learns from him 
of Governor's correspondence — Chaney induced to accompany Captain 
McDonald, disguised, upon visit to Governor — Lord William deceived 
and talks freely — Upon McDonald's report, Middleton urges General 
Committee to take the Governor into custody — Differences in General 
Committee in regard to matter — Fort Johnson taken — Lord William 
Campbell escapes to the Tamar. 53-G8. 

CHAPTER IV 

1775 

Sloop 01 war CheroKee arrives in Charletitown harbor — Fort Johnson 
reenforced — Flag raised upon it — Differences of opinion in Council of 
Safety — Intercourse with British ships of war prohibited — Sullivan's 
Island to be secured — Tart correspondence with Captain Thornborough 

— Divisions in Council, but vigorous measures decided upon — Protests 
against such action — Action deferred — Subject again renewed — Wildest 
schemes proposed — Moultrie ridicules them — General Committee sum- 
mons Congress, which meets — Chooses William Henry Drayton Presi- 
dent — Committee appointed to report on state of colony — First battle 
of the Revolution in South Carolina takes place — No one injured, though 
many shots exchanged — Congress holds divine service, and then proceeds 
with business on Sunday — Thanks voted to Captain Tufts and others 
engaged in naval affair — Ship Prosper impressed, fitted, and armed as 
a frigate of war — Messrs. De Saussure and Powell sent to inform Council 
of Safety of Georgia of the commencement of hostilities — The policy of 
conferring temporary dictatorial powers on Governor Inaugurated — Presi- 
dent Drayton writes letter to Council of Safety of Georgia — Regiment of 
artillery to be raised — Close division of parties in Congress — Captain 
Lempri^re appointed to command ship Prosper — Owen Roberts Lieu- 
tenant Colonel regiment of artillerj' — Proposed adjournment of Congress 
to Camden — New Council of Safety elected ; powers enlarged — Lord 
William Campbell informed that he would be notified in case of an attack 

— Precautionary and other measures taken — Thanks given to President 
Drayton — Congress adjourns — State of parties. 69-85. 

CHAPTER V 

1775 

Robert Cuningham taken into custody — His case and treatment — 

Resentment in Up-Countrj' upon his arrest — Patrick Cuningham attempts 

his rescue, fails, but seizes amnmnition on its way to the Indians, sent by 



Xii CONTENTS 

Drayton — Misapprehension in regard to same — Williamson embodies 
miliiia, and forms a camp — Sends message to Indian agents explaining 
seizure of ammunition — Cuningham party believe ammunition sent to 
arm Indians against tliem — Colonel Ricliardson sent to seize Patrick Cun- 
ingham and other Tory leaders — Captain Polk joins Richardson — Sum- 
ter's first appearance — Is cautiously received by the Revolutionists — 
Congress men under Williamson, and King's men under Cuningham, 
embody their forces — Richard Pearis abandons the Revolutionists and 
joins the King's men — King's men increase in numbers and, under 
Robinson, march upon Williamson — Williamson falls back to Ninetj^- 
Six and fortifies himself — Robinson besieges Williamson — Conference 
between leaders of the parties — T\yo of Williamson's men seized — Con- 
flict begins — First blood of the Revolution in South Carolina is shed — 
Siege lasts two days — The killed and wounded — Another conference — 
Treaty entered into — Floyd, Robinson's messenger to Lord William 
Campbell, repairs to Charlestown, forbidden private conference with 
Lord William, secures it, receives instructions, and is arrested — Richard- 
son marches to Williamson's relief — Disregards terms of treaty — Makes 
arrests and issues proclamation — Is joined by several large parties — 
He advances. King's men fall back — His force increases — Arrests 
Fletchall, Pearis, and others — Presses forward through the snow — 
Forces still further increased — Scours the whole upper country — Battle 
of Great Cane Brake — Marches home — Ship of war Scorpion arrives in 
Charlestown harbor witl; Governor Josiah Martin of North Carolina on 
board — Lord William Campbell proposes with the men-of-war in harbor 
to attack Fort Johnson, but is overruled — Two merchant ships seized by 
British fleet — Money found on board turned over to Lord William Camp- 
bell—His lordship's chariot and horses in the town seized in retalia- 
tion — Lady Campbell protests — action of Council of Safety thereon — 
William Henry Drayton made Captain of ship Prostper for protection of 
harbor — His control of affairs — Moultrie restive under it — Battery 
established at Iladdrell's Point forces British men-of-war to change their 
position, and they leave the harbor — Two other British men-of-war arrive, 
send in a boat, but learning Fort Johnson in possession of Provincials, ~ 
depart. 86-102. 

CHAPTER VI 

177(5 

Provincial Congress reassembles — Delegates return from Philadel- 
phia ; present journal of Continental Congress — Powers of sovereignty 
as.sumed and exercised by Continental and Provincial Congresses — Pro- 
vincial Congress of Massachusetts asks advice of Continental Congress as 



CONTENTS Xlll 

to establishment of independent government — John Rutledge's report 
thereon — Subject renewed by delegates from New Hampshire and South 
Carolina — Resolution of Continental Congress thereon — John Adams's 
representations in regard to same — Rutledge's position thereon — Conti- 
nental Congress advises Provincial Congress to call full and free repre- 
sentation of the people — Resolution of Continental Congress referred to 
connnittee — Report of Henry Laurens thereon — Gadsden declares for 
absolute independence — His declaration received with abhorrence — 
John Rutledge's indignation thereat — Congress resolves it expedient to 
set up temporary government — Committee appointed to prepare plan — 
Committee reports — Mr. Lowndes leads opposition thereto — Debate 
thereon — Copy act of Parliament declaring colonies in rebellion received 

— Its effect — John Rutledge makes another report from committee on 
plan of government — Plan adopted — Its provisions — Legislative Coun- 
cil chosen — John Rutledge chosen President — Henry Laurens Vice 
President — William Henry Drayton, Chief Justice — Charge to Grand 
Jury — The charge considered — The form of government considered — 
It was not a constitution — Delegation to Continental Congress — Instruc- 
tion thereto — Thomas Lynch, Jr., added as sixth member of delegation. 
103-127. 

CHAPTER VII 

177(1 

Preparation in England for subjugation of colonies — Expedition sails 
under Admiral Peter Parker and Earl Cornwallis — Is dispersed by storm 

— Returns — Refits and sails again — Its destination to the Southern colo- 
nies known to Washington — Admiral Graves and Sir Henry Clinton sail 
for Boston — Destination unknown — Put into New York — Sail again 
and join Admiral Parker and Lord Cornwallis — Lord William Campbell 
and Governor Martin accompany Sir Henry Clinton — Expedition arrives 
off Cape Fear — Purpose of setting up Royal government in North Caro- 
lina frustrated by Caswell's victory — Expedition sails for Charlestown — 
Organization of American forces — Middle and Southern departments 
established — Major General Charles Lee assigned to command of latter 

— His character — Sets out for his command — Description of coast of 
South Carolina — President Rutledge learns of appearance of expedition 
off Dewees' Island — Generals Armstrong, Lee, and Howe arrive — Atti- 
tude of parties — Differences buried — All vie with each other in prepa- 
ration for hostilities — British fleet arrives off bar — The bar sounded, 
and lieet crosses — Sir Henry Clinton sends in proclamation — Lands 
force on Long Island — Lee assumes cnmmand of American forces — 
President Rutledge directs all State troops to obey him — Fort Sullivan 



XIV CONTENTS 

(Moultrie) described — Troops destined for defence — Fort Johnson 

— Its 'garrison — Lee proposes to abandon Fort Sullivan — Rutledge's 
answer — Lee instructs Moultrie to attack British force on Long Island — 
Moultrie prepares to do so, but ascertains Sir Henry Clinton's whole 
army there — American works and troops to oppose his crossing — Lee's 
restlessness and anxiety — Moultrie's calmness — Lee's instructions to 
Moultrie disregarded — Lee determines to remove Moultrie — Moultrie's 
character — Fortifications of the town and disposition of the troops — 
Britisli land and naval forces — The battle begins — Fleet attacks — 
Positions of the British men-of-war — Lee not alone in anxiety as to the 
fort — Sir Henry Clinton attempts to cross from Long Island — Is repulsed 
by Colonel Thomson — The fight between the fleet and the fort rages — 
British ships run foul of each other and aground — Thunder borabship 
withdraws — Lord William Campbell wounded — Slaughter on the Bristol 
and Experiment — The fort shaken — Flag shot away — Sergeant Jasper re- 
places it — Lee orders Moultrie to abandon fort if ammunition is exhausted 

— Moultrie saves his ammunition to evade order — Kulledge sends fresh 
supply — Lee crosses through fire to fort — Approves Moultrie's conduct 
and retires — Sergeant McDaniel's dying speech — Losses on the fleet — 
Losses in the fort — Ammunition expended — Firing ceases — Fleet retires 

— Actceon blown up — Milligan's gallant feat — Lee reviews garrison — 
Rutledge presents his sword to Jasper — The decisiveness of the battle. 
128-162. 

CHAPTER VIII 

1776 

John Adams's account of the state of parties in Congress in 1775 — 
His confusion of dates and characters — His account of John Rutledge's 
position — His own desire for restoration of relations between England 
and America — Colonel Read's letter to Washington of same tenor — 
Franklin's testimony before the bar of House of Lords — Jay's and Jef- 
ferson's statements in regard to same — Iredell's letter — Whigs not at 
first for independence — Edward Rutledge joins Dickinson and Wilkin- 
son of Pennsylvania, and Livingston of New York, in opposing the Vir- 
ginia resolution as to the independence of the colonies — Several colonies 
not yet ready for the Declaration — Question postponed, meanwhile com- 
mittee appointed to prepare Declaration — On June 28th Jefferson reports 
drafts of Declaration — Debate resumed on July 1st — New York delega- 
tion withdraws — Pennsylvania and South Carolina vote against Declara- 
tion — Determination of question postponed at Edward Rutledge's request 

— Embarrassing position of delegates from South Carolina — Delegation 
composed of younger men — On July 2d delegation agrees to vote for 




CONTENTS XV 

Declaration — Declaration agreed to on the 4th — Coincidence of the vic- 
tory of Fort Moultrie and the introduction of the Declaration — Interest- 
ing change of relative positions of the two Kutledges — British fleet cross 
the bar and leave the coast — News of the Declaration of Independence 
reaches Charlestown — Curious letter of delegation sending copy of reso- 
lution adopting it — Drayton's account of its reception — Laurens's letter 
telling of it — President Rutledge issues proclamation — Summonses 
General Assembly — His speech — Replies of Legislative Council and 
Assembly — Inconsistent position of Rutledge — Ramsay's account of 
the reception of the Declaration — Miles Brewton leaves the province 
and is lost at sea — Condition of public sentiment. 163-185. 

CHAPTER IX 

1770 

The whole western frontier again ablaze — Indians on the war-path — 
The terrors to which the Revolution exposed those in the interior — Cap- 
tain John Stuart escapes from Charlestown — From Florida he opens 
communication with the Cherokees and General Gage — Sends Alexander 
Cameron to the Cherokees, and Moses Kirkland to Gage — Sketch of Cam- 
eron and of his character — Council of Safety determines to secure Cam- 
eron's person — Enterprise intrusted to James McCall — He starts upon 
the mission — Falls into the hands of the Indians — Ensign Calhoun 
killed — ^IcCall's captivity — Indians torture a youth — McCall escapes 

— Uprising of Indians arranged as diversion to British fleet and army 
on coast — Massacre of the Hamptons — Williamson gathers a force and 
marches against the Cherokees — Is surprised — Fight at Essenecca — Mr. 
Salvador killed and scalped — Indians defeated — Williamson pursues 
and burns their villages — His force increased, makes campaign in connec- 
tion with forces from North Carolina and Virginia in which the Chero- 
kees are utterly subdued, and cede large tract of territory — Mistake made 
in refusing Cuninghanf s proffered services — Loyalists from Carolina 
and Georgia gather in Florida under Browne and McGirth — The case of 
McGirth — Lee determines an invasion of Florida — Is called to the North 

— Howe's disastrous expedition — Gadsden and Moultrie made Brigadier 
Generals — Other promotions. 186-204. 

CHAPTER X 

1777-78 

History of South Carolina from henceforth that of the State — Agita- 
tion for disestablishment of Church — Its effect upon the churchmen who 
inaugurated the Revolution — Rev. Mr. Tennent's memorial — Colonel 



Xvi CONTENTS 

HilPs account of its reception in the upper country — New Assembly 
meets — President llutledge's speech — Replies of Council and Assembly 

— Its members returned by no popular election — Debate on disestablish- 
ment of Church — Mr. Tennent's able speech — Kichard liutson's letter 
to Isaac Hayne — Subject postponed — Ordinance of allegiance — Seal of 
State adopted — Harbor of Charlestown blockaded — Blockade-running 

— Privateers and prizes — South Carolina fits out a fleet — Prizes taken 

— Alexander Gillon appointed Commodore and sent to Europe to purchase 
frigates — His difficulties, and what he accomplished — Cost of the experi- 
ment to the State — Blockade-running continued — Fortunes made and 
lost — Extravagant price of provisions — Act against engrossing — Dr. 
Ramsay's account of the currency — Ruinous effect of its fluctuation — 
Scaling scheme adopted by British authorities upon fall of Charlestown. 
206-228. 

CHAPTER XI 

1778 

Disasters to American cause following battle of Fort Moultrie — Tide 
turned at Saratoga — General Assembly reconvenes — President's address 

— Submits Articles of Confederation, declares for the sovereignty and in- 
dependence of America — Measures suggested — Disastrous fire takes place 
in Charlestown — Suspicion that fire was the work of incendiaries from 
British fleet off bar — Fleet made up and sent out, under Biddle, to clear 
the coast — Company of Continentals sent with it as marines, again.st the 
advice of military council — Biddle falls in with British gun ship — Fight 
ensues, the Randolph blown up, the whole company of Continentals 
lost — Legislature undertakes to amend Constitution of 1776, disestab- 
lishes Church, and substitutes a Senate for Legislative Council — Rawlins 
Lowndes supports Gadsden and William Henry Drayton in the measure 

— Bill passed — Rutledge vetoes it, and resigns — His .speech in doing so — 
Action of As.sembly thereon — Resignation accepted — Resolution of thanks 
proposed — Debated and passed — Inconsistent conduct of both Rutledge 
and Lowndes — Arthur Middleton chosen President, but declines — Raw- 
lins Lowndes elected, and accepts — Approves the new Constitution — 
James Parsons elected Vice President, but resigns — Christopher Gads- 
den elected — His dissatisfaction. 229-245. 

CHAPTER XII 

1778 

Effect produced in Europe by Burgoync's surrender — Lord North's con- 
ciliatf)ry acts passed by both Houses of Parliament — Duty on tea repealed 

— Peace Connnissioners appointed — Measure too late — Fx-anto inter- 



CONTENTS xvii 

vcncs — The memorable incident of Chatham's hist speech, protesting 
against dismemberment of empire — His death — The scene a part of the 
history of South Carolina — Hostile sentiment to the French — Copy of 
conciliatory acts received — Action of Continental Congress thereon — 
The door closed to the conunissioners before arrival — Gazette's announce- 
ment of Lord North's speecli introducing conciliatory acts — Arrival of 
Silas Deane with dispatches from American I'lenipoteutiary at Court of 
France, and treaty executed — Peace commissioners, from England, 
arrive — French ambassador quits London — Peace commissioners dis- 
patch secretary to Congress — Secretary refused passport — Forwards let- 
ter through military posts — Contents of letter — Henry Laurens's letter 
as President of Congress in answer — Commissioner's reply — Unfortu- 
nate conduct of Governor .Johnston, one of the commissioners ; his private 
letters to individuals — Mr. Laurens's admirable reply — Mr. Drayton's 

— Governor Johnston resigns — British commissioners' last efforts — Their 
attempt to open negotiations with the colonies directly — Manifesto and 
paper sent by flag to President Lowndes — He returns the paper. 246- 

CHAPTER XIII 

1778 

President Lowndes's uncomfortable position — People impatient under 
any other rule but Rutledge's — Stringent test oath of allegiance enacted 

— Its enforcement impracticable — President Lowndes's embarrassment 

— By Gadsden's advice, time for taking oath extended by proclamation — 
Proclamation taken from hands of sheriff — Gadsden's letter to Drayton 
on the subject — The "Old Leven " enjoy Gadsden's discomfiture — 
Timothy publishes proclamation — Proclamation skilfully drawn — Meet- 
ing of citizens resolve that test oath act be strictly enforced — Act 
not enforced ; legislature indorses acting President and Council in the 
matter — Letter in Gazette upon the subject — Gadsden's letter to Dray- 
ton on occurrences of the time, and his resignation — Disaffection of the 
people with the French alliance — Riot in Boston between American 
and French seamen — Similar riot in Charlestown, lives are lost ; Presi- 
dent Lowndes issues proclamation for apprehension of one supposed to 
have killed a Frenchman — Sends message to legislature on the subject 

— Another urging more attention to the coming election of New Assem- 
bly — Election takes place — No party lines drawn — New Assembly 
jueets — John Rutledge elected Governor under new Constitution — 
Thomas Heyward, Jr., Lieutenant Governor — He declines — Thomas 
Bee elected — Privy Council chosen. 2CG-282. 



XVUl CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIV 

1778 

War transferred to the South — Military defence of colonies based on 
no general uprising of the people — No reliance to be had on militia — 
Theory of the Revolutionists that of a regular army — Military system 
inadequate and inefficient — Scheme of reorganization of the army — 
Military statistics of same examined — South Carolina's financial con- 
tribution to the Revolution — But she too far away for assistance — 
Her forces to meet the invasion — Gadsden's question witli Howe as to 
command ; his letter to Drayton on subject ; resigns his commission ; 
resignation accepted ; his mortification thereat ; his duel with Howe — 
South Carolina's appeal for assistance unanswered — Great discontent — 
Remains of Pulaski's nondescript corps and Colonel Laumoy arrive 

— Colonel John Laui-ens comes with suggestion to arm the negro slaves 

— Suggestion disapproved by Washington — Rejected with scorn — North 
Carolina's assistance to South Carolina — Singular correspondence with 
delegates in Congress on the subject. 283-320. 



CHAPTER XV 

1778-79 

South Carolina now to be the theatre of the war — Howe resumes 
expedition to Florida — Discord and suffering — A council of war orders 
a retreat — Brilliant episode of Colonel Elbert — He takes three Brit- 
ish vessels — Provost allows Howe's expedition to exhaust itself — Is 
instructed to cooperate with expedition fi-om New York — Advances, but 
fails to effect junction — Plunders the country — Howe calls for reenforce- 
ments — Moultrie sends Huger and Henderson — Provost falls back — 
Expedition from New York arrives — Character of Colonel Campbell, its 
commander — Naval force, commanded by Hyde Parker, ably cooperates 
— Forces composing the expedition — Campbell immediately attacks 
Howe and defeats him — Takes Savannah — Howe's loss — Lower part 
of Georgia submits — General Lincoln arrives and relieves Howe — Lin- 
coln finds no army to command — President Tjowndes lays a general 
embargo — Appoints Richardson, Bull, and Williamson Brigadier Gen- 
erals — Militia unruly — North Carolina sends militia under Ashe and 
Rutherford without arms — Moultrie moves to Purrysburg — Howe ordered 
to join Washington — Remnants of his army join Lincoln at Purrysburg. 
321-332. 



CONTENTS XIX 

CHAPTER XVI 

1779 

Correspondence between General Moultrie and Colonel Charles Pinck- 
noy — Uncertain relation of the Continental Congress and the States 

— xVIilitia refuse to be governed by articles of war — A militiaman muti- 
nies — Court ordered for his trial — Militia officers refuse to take oaths 
under articles of war — Lincoln refuses to pay militia not amenable to 
discipline — Correspondence between Moultrie and Pinckney upon subject 

— Provost forms junction with Campbell — Campbell advances upon Au- 
gusta — Williamson recrosses Savannah into South Carolina — Inhabitants 
of Georgia flock to Campbell and renew allegiance — Colonel Hamilton's 
North Carolina Loyalists — His character — Loyalists of North Carolina 
rising under Boyd — Pickens appears as a leader — Provost's junction 
between Hamilton and Boyd — Pickens attacks Boyd at Kettle Creek 
and defeats him — Character of the Loyalists taken — Tried for treason, 
and five executed — Campbell recalled — Major Gardiner makes lodge- 
ment on Port Koyal Island — Moultrie attacks Gardiner and defeats him — 
Charlestowu battalion of artillery engaged — Captain Hey ward wounded 

— Losses on both sides — Stringent militia law enacted — The pi-ovisions 
examined — Mutinous condition of militia — Different divisions of forces 
in tlie field — The battle of Brier Creek — Ashe defeated and routed — 
Fruits of Pickens's victory lost — Fires in Charlestown arouse suspicion — 
Tweed, Groundwater, Duer, and Remmington taken attempting to go to 
enemy — Tried for treason — Tweed convicted of having set fire to his 
own house — Tweed and Groundwater executed — Pinckney's letter to 
Moultrie on subject — Governor Kutledge establishes permanent camp at 
Orangeburgh — Disagreement of Rutledge, Moultrie, and Lincoln as to 
treatment of neutrals — Council of war advises carrying the war into 
Georgia. 333-349. 

CHAPTER XVII 

1779 

Lincoln marches with Continentals for Augusta — Leaves Moultrie 
with militia at Purr3'sburg — Lincoln learns of Provost's intention to cross 
into South Carolina — Warns Huger — Rutledge goes to concert measures 
with Lincoln — Lieutenant Governor Bee zealously supports Moultrie — 
Provost crosses into South Carolina — Moultrie sends dispatch to Lincoln 
and falls back to TulJifiny Hill — John Laurens in command of rear- 
guard ; disregards instructions ; brings on an engagement ; is worsted and 
wounded — Moultrie falls back to Salkehatchie — Lincoln follows — Moul- 



XX CONTENTS 

trie appeals to Lincoln to come to his assistance — Militia desert to take 
care of their families — Moultrie reaches Dorchester — Different bodies 
marching to Charlestown without common purpose — British army in 
close pursuit — J^incoln approaching slowly — Ruiledge, Moultrie, and 
Harris reach the city — Moultrie's mistake in going into the city — 
He posts his troops on the lines — Lincoln crosses the river at Ashley 
Ferry — Approaches the city — Pulaski reconnoitres, and is driven in — 
Colonel Kowatch killed — Major linger killed on the lines — Conflict of 
authority between Governor Kutledge and General Moultrie — Consequent 
confusion — Curious arrangement made — Differences of estimate as to 
forces present — Kutledge sends message to I'ri^vost inquiring as to terms 
of capitulation — Prevost replies — Kutledge summons Council to consider 
Pr6vost's terms — Members of Council — Discussion as to strength of gar- 
rison — "Work on lines continued — Provost demands work to cease dur- 
ing truce — Moultrie sends message to Provost, asking conference — 
Provost refuses to confer — Two versions of proposition for capitulation 
made by Council — Deliberations of Council divulged — Pojiulace threat- 
ens Council — Kutledge stands firm — Different versions of proposition 
considered — Laurens refuses to carry message to Provost — ^Moultrie 
sends it by Mcintosh and Smith — Provost rejects proposition — Next 
morning Prevost disappears — Conduct of each partj'^ discussed. 350-38L 

CHAPTER XVIII 

1779 

Lincoln reaches Dorchester too late to intercept Provost — Provost 
establishes a port on the Stono — Lincoln determines to attack it, but is 
deterred by Pulaski's report — Disaffection to Lincoln — He asks leave to 
retire — His patriotic letter — Advises with Kutledge upon plan of opera- 
tions — Lincoln determines to attack Provost's reduced force on Stono 
— Listructs Moultrie to cross with city militia, and cooperate witii his 
movements under linger — Lincoln begins his advance — Moultrie fails to 
secure boats, and does not move as directed — The battle of Stono is 
fought — Lincoln is repulsed — British, under Maitland, escape — Moul- 
trie responsible for the failure — Koberts killed — Davie wounded — 
Losses on both sides — Brilliant affair of galleys in the Stono — Provost 
establishes post at Beaufort and returns to Georgia — effect of Provost's 
inroad — Carries away immense plunder ; makes many enemies to the 
Royal cause — Cruel treatment of negroes — Many shipped and sold to 
West Indies — Many die — Conduct of expedition condemned by British 
historians — Lincoln's trouble with militia — Affairs on James Island — 
Robert Barnwell terribly wounded — Party taken — Brilliant naval affairs. 
382-398. 



CONTENTS XXI 

CHAPTER XIX 

1779 

Count D'Estaing's success in West Indies — Governor Rutledge, Gen- 
eral Lincoln, and French consul apply to D'Estaing to visit American 
coast and cooperate witli Lincoln — He sails and arrives off Charlestown 
bar — General Assembly passes another militia law — Lincoln's army 
established at Beaufort — Jasper as a scout — D'Estaing informs Lincoln 
of readiness to cooperate — Enthusiasm ai^oused — Militia drafted — Vol- 
unteers join expedition — British commanders learn of D'Estaing's pres- 
ence — Steps taken thereon — French fleet anchors off Savannah bar — 
D'Estaing lands, advances on Savannah, and demands surrender in name 
of the king of France — Offence taken thereat, and suspicion aroused — 
Provost negotiates to gain time — Maitland succeeds in reaching Savannah 
from Beaufort — Prdvost sends answer of defiance — Opportunity of tak- 
ing the town lost — Prevost awaits attack — Asks that women and children 
be allowed to leave the town — Request refused — D'Estaing insists upon 
immediate assault — Assault determined on by council of war — Informa- 
tion of it carried to I'rs^vost — Disposition of Provost for receiving assault 

— Order of battle of allies not carried out — Brilliant assault of French 
and Carolinians — Colors of Second South Carolina Regiment planted on 
redoubt — Jasper's death — Assault repulsed — Battle lost — Losses — 
D'Estaing refuses to continue siege — His insolent conduct — 111 feeling 
between French and Americans — D'Estaing embarks his troops, and 
Lincoln retreats. 399-41!). 

CHAPTER XX 

17S0 

Review of British operations ni tlie Northern States — Sir Henry Clin- 
ton appointed Commander-in-chief of British f(uces — Plan of the minis- 
try tor carrying war "from South to North" — The capture of Charles- 
town the first step — Admiral Arbuthnot arrives at New York with fleet 
and troops — Number of British ti'oops in America — Arbnthnot's arrival 
facilitates Sir Henry's movements — Expedition fitted out — Washington 
informed of Sir Henry's movements — Detailed statement of Lincoln's 
forces in South Carolina — Colonel John Laurens .sent to Washington for 
reenforcement.s — Washington sends North Carolina Continental brigade 

— Also determines to send the Virginia line — Washington's letter to 
Colonel Woodford — Colonel Washington joins Huger at Monck's Corner 

— Woodford arrives in Charlestown — Other reiinforcements received — 



XXU CONTENTS 

Lincoln's assurance of militia to be sent here, but few ooine — Number 
received — Sir Henry Clinton embarks with Earl Cornwallis — Fleet dis- 
persed by storm — Cavalry horses lost — Effect of its delay — British 
troops disembark on John's Island — Advance cautiously — Dictatorial 
powers conferred upon John Kutledge — Uutledge issues proclamation 
calling out militia — Sir Henry Clinton issues counter proclamation — 
Militia refuse to respond to Rutledge's call — Kutledge sends Colonel Ter- 
nant to Havanna to ask for assistance — Fails to obtain it — Sir Henry 
Clinton also calls for reenforcements — His numbers — Lincoln sends Moul- 
trie to Bacon's Bridge — Numbers of Moultrie's command — Moultrie's 
reports to Lincoln — Case of " Colonel Ballendine" — Commodore Whipple 
proposes to abandon the bar — Lincoln protests against its abandonment 

— The proper position for Whipple to have taken — Whipple withdraws 
his fleet — Guns taken out, ships sunk — British vessels cross the bar — 
Washington's letter on subject — Lincoln's letter giving reasons why 
defence of city was made — His reasons considered. 420-444. 

CHAPTER XXI 

1780 

Sir Henry Clinton's delay in investment of the town — Begins his 
movements — Thomas Farr, Speaker of House, captured — Battery appears 
on Fenwick's Point, others afterward — Patterson arrives with reenforce- 
ments from Savannah — British parties by mistake fire upon each other 

— Tarleton secures remounts for his cavalry — Joins Patterson — Sketch 
of Tarleton — Terms of General Lillington's North Carolina militia 
expire ; they abandon Lincoln — Their places partially supplied by country 
militia, who are put under command of General Mcintosh — St. Michael's 
steeple painted black — Timothy takes post in a watch tower and reports 
the British movements — Tarleton raids Bee's plantation — First meets 
Colonel Washington — Sketch of Washington — Colonel Hamilton cap- 
tured — Lincoln's army moves into the lines — Description of same and 
their condition — Positions assigned various corps — British cross the 
Ashley, at Ashley Ferry, without opposition — Laurens skirmishes with 
their advance — The peninsula secured by British — Laurens continues 
skirmishing with their advance — Ladies witness the encounter — Captain 
Bowman killed — Major Hyrne and others wounded — Earl of Caithness 
wounded — Patterson crosses <at Gibbes's farm — General Scott of Vir- 
ginia arrives, but without reenforcements — Colonel Neville arrives ; 
announces the approach of Woodford's brigade — A battery appears 
opposite Hampstead — Attempts to take it in reverse from the river fail 

— British guns open on the town — Casualties — Tarleton attempts to 



CONTENTS XXlll 

surprise Washington, but fails — Woodford's brigade of Virginians arrive ' 

— Disappointment at their number — The wind favoring, British men-of- 
war pass Fort Moultrie with but little loss — Naval movements described 
by Timothy — Koyal fleet anchor near Fort Johnson — First parallel 
of besiegers completed — Lincoln summoned to surrender — His reply. 
445-4G2. 

CHAPTER XXII 

1780 

Lincoln's last decisive act during siege — British batteries fire and 
shell the town — Major Gilbank's death — Lhicoln urges Governor Rut- 
ledge to leave the town — Effect of the British fire — Conflagrations — 
Fire guard organized — Governor Rutledge leaves the town with three 
members of Council — Gadsden, appointed Lieutenant Governor, and 
rest of Council remain — Continued bombardment — Damage done — 
Lincoln calls a council — Liforms them of condition of affairs, suggests 
evacuation — Mcintosh urges that course — Council broken up by can- 
nonade — Tarleton surprises Huger at Monck's Corner and routs his com- 
mand — Major Vernier's cruel treatment and death — Tarleton secures 
thoroughbred stock for his dragoons — Brutal conduct of British soldiers 

— Treatment of ladies at Sir John Colleton's — Passes across Cooper 
River secured by British — Lord Cornwallis crosses with reenforcements 
lately arrived — Slow but incessant fire on the town — A shot from James 
Island strikes St. Michael's Church and carries off arm of Pitt's statue 

— Ti'agic death of a militiaman — Advance of trenches — Casualties 

— General Scott sent over to Lemprifere's Point to meet Cornwallis's 
advance — Is recalled to attend another Council — Council interrupted — 
Members of the Council — Its deliberations broken in upon by Gadsden — 
Ilis unwarranted interference — Vigorously opposes evacuation or capit- 
ulation — Council adjourns, but meets again — Colonel Laumoy urges 
capitulation — Gadsden brings in other members of his Council, protests 
atrainst giving up the town — Ferguson threatens the military officers — 
Colonel C. C. Pinckney comes up from Fort Moultrie, joins Gadsden in 
protest against giving up — Charges engineer officer as instigating the 
move — Unjust charges against Lincoln — Gadsden's conduct not justified 

— Another council called, but too late for evacuation — Colonel Laumoy 
again urges capitulation — Lincoln proposes to council the terms he would 
ask — Two hundred North Carolinians manage to enter the town — Lin- 
coln sends flag to Sir Henry Clinton — Terms proposed by Lincoln — Sir 
Henry takes time to consult Admiral Arbuthnot — Few hours' respite thus 
obtained — Lincoln's terms rejected — Fire on town reopened. 4(5:3-481. 



XXIV CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXIII 

1780 

Bombardment of town continued — Supplies begin to fail — Brilliant 
sally under Henderson — Captain Tliomas Moultrie killed — Colonel C. C. 
rinckney with part of his regiment withdrawn from Fort Moultrie — 
Lieutenant-Colonel Scott with remainder left — Death of Colonel Richard 
Parker of Virginia — Colonels Pinckney and Laurens attempt to supply 
the garrison with fresh meat — False alarm of enemy's assault — Corn- 
wallis takes possession of Haddrell's Point, and cuts off communi- 
cation with Fort Moultrie — General Duportail makes his way into the 
town — Brings letter from General Washington — Examines the works, 
and joins Laumoy in declaring them untenable — Proposes to leave the 
garrison — Lincoln refuses to allow him to do so — Another council of 
war called — Attempt to evacuate again proposed — Citizens interfere, and 
threaten to open the gates to the enemy — Bombardment does much dam- 
age — Casualties — Colonel Malmedy abandons Lempri^re's Point — Brit- 
ish take possession — Circunivallation of town comijleted — Major Lowe 
and others make their way out — Incident of Major Andr6 as a spy — 
Lincoln encouraged by reports of North and South Carolina militia coming 
to his relief — Edward Rutledge sent out to communicate with Governor 
Tlutledge — Unfortunately takes letter of a friend — Is captured — Friend's 
letter, giving an account of straits of garrison, taken from him, printed, 
and sent into the town — Siege progresses — Fort Moultrie taken — 
Colonel Scott obtains good terms — Rejoicing of the British at fall of 
the fort — Great blow to the garrison — Magazine nearly destroyed — 
Tarleton surprises and routs remainder of Iluger's cavalry under Colonel 
Wiiite — Sir Henry Clinton again summons the town — Lincoln calls 
another council — Delay to allow Gadsden to submit his requirements — 
Lincoln submits terms of capitulation — Clinton and Arbuthnot return 
their modifications — Point of difference as to treatment of militia and citi- 
zens — Lincoln's demands refused, and hostilities renewed — Town again 
bombarded — Dreadful night follows — Amidst roar of bombardment, 
Gadsden writes to Lincoln, indignant at concessions made by him — His 
Council prevents his sending it— Citizens withdraw opposition to capitu- 
lation — Sir Henry Clinton prepares for final assault, when Lincoln 
surrenders — Articles of capitulation signed and exchanged — Garrison 
marcliLS out and lays down its arms — Disaster occurs — Magazine ex- 
plodes — Moultrie arrested, but immediately released — Loss of life in 
city — Losses of Charlestown battalion of artillery — Sick and wounded 
in hospital — Losses — British surprise at small numbers of garrison — 



CONTENTS XXV 

Tell of traitors in gan'ison — British deserters to garrison during siege — 
Lincoln's and Gadsden's conduct, during siege considered —Great rejoicing 
in England over fall of the town — I'^stiniate of numbers. 482-51-4. 

CHAPTER XXIV 

1780 

Sir Henry Clinton sends Lord Cornwallis into the interior — Sir Henry 
anxious to avoid the coming French fleet — Busy establishing civil affairs 

— Directs Cornwallis to capture Kulledge — Cornwallis moves to Camden 

— Sends division to Augusta and another to Ninety-Six — Cornwallis 
detaches Tarleton to overtake Buford's regiment — Tarleton comes near 
cipturing liutledge and his Council — Caswell and Buford unfortunately 
.separate — Buford overtaken — His conunand cut to pieces — Atrocities 
committed — Wounded left on field taken to the Waxhaws Church — 
The murder of Samuel Wyley — Cornwallis reaches Camden — Citizens 
granted same terms as those in Charlestown — So, too, with those of 
Ninety-Six and Beaufort — The careers of Richardson, Williamson, and 
Bull end — The case of Williamson — His supposed treachery considered. 
515-532. 

CHAPTER XXV 

1780 

Sir Henry Clinton writes to Loi'd Germain : not a Continental officer 
or soldier in the field — All leaders of the Revolution prisoners or dead 
but one, John Rutledge — Royal authority might yet have been restored 
in South Carolina — Two hundred citizens congratulate the British com- 
manders — Their address considered — Popular belief that Congress in- 
tended to sacrifice the three Southern States — Its grounds stated — John 
Mathews's account and his action — French minister's letter upon subject— 
Duane's letter upon same — Resolution of Congress upon subject — Inju- 
dicious measures of British commanders — British commission to divide 
spoils — Immense stores and plunder taken — Bitter controvei'sy over 
division of .spoils between British army and navy — Difference between 
receipts and certificates given for stores taken — Great number of negi'oes 
taken and shipped away, others die — Sir Henry Clinton anxious to 
return to New York before arrival of French fleet — His instructions to 
Earl Cornwallis — Attempts to inaugurate ministerial scheme of subduing 
America by Americans — Handbill published and circulated — Proclama- 
tion of British commanders as peace commissioners — Effect counter- 
acted by Tarleton's massacre of Buford's men and Sir Henry Clinton's 
course — Sir Heni'y issues proclamation recalling paroles given, and call- 
ing upon all citizens to do military duty — Its disastrous effects — Con- 



XXVI CONT^ENTS 

demned by British authors — Less candid view published by military 
authority in Charlestown — Mistaken treatment of the Scotch-Irish in 
upper country converts them into implacable enemies of Koyal authority. 
53.3-500 

CH\PTKU XXVI 

1780 

Sir Henry Clinton embarks for New York, leaving Earl Cornwallis' in 
command in South Carolina — The positions of his forces — Lord Rawdon 
advances to the Waxhaws — New actors appear upon the scene — Parti- 
san warfare inaugurated — Sketches of Sumter, Marion, and Davie — 
The battle of Kamsour's Mill. 561-586. 

CHAPTER XXVII 

1780 

Internecine strife in the upper country — Scotch loyal to the King, and 
rise with the advance of the British army — Bratton disperses the Tories 
at Mobley's Meeting-house — Tory uprising at Beckham's Old Field put 
down — Bratton hesitates to advise his neighbors, but himself joins Sum- 
ter — Lord Rawdon sends commissioner to meeting at Bullock's Creek — 
Colonel Hill addresses meeting — Companies organized under Hill and 
Neel — Colonel Turnbull sends Captain Hack to investigate affairs at 
Beckham's Old Field — Huck's character — Atrocities and murder com- 
mitted by Huck's party — Rev. John Simpson's house and library burned 

— Sumter moves into South Carolina, establishes camp at Clem's Creek, 
and gathers distinguished leaders around him : Hill, Neel, Richard Hamp- 
ton, Hammond, Clarke of Georgia, Bratton, McClure, and Lacey — Battle 
of Williamson's plantation — Bratton, McClure, and Lacey attack and 
defeat Huck's party — Huck killed — Mrs. Bratton's noble conduct — 
Affair at Stallions — Mrs. Stallions's tragic death — Colonel Ferguson 
sent by Cornwallis to Ninety-Six — His remarkable character and con- 
duct — Major Hanger joins Ferguson — His character — Their successful 
course — Whig congregation at Fair Forest — Romantic incident of Mrs. 
Jolin Thomas warning her son of impending attack — Tories attack Colonel 
John Thomas, Jr., and are defeated — Colonel Browne, from Augusta, 
sends Ilollingsworth into South Carolina in pursuit of Captain McKoy 

— Hollingsworth's atrocities and cruelty — Colonel Clarke attempts to 
organize party to join Sumter, but fails — Colonel Jones succeeds in doing 
so — Jones joins McDowell — McDowell and Jones are surprised by 
Dunlap, and their followers cut to pieces — Freeman rallies remainder — 
Edward Hampton pursues Dunlaji, overtakes him, and destroys his party 

— The whole Up-Country ablaze — Summary of affairs. 587-ClG. 



CONTENTS XXVU 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

1780 

Tyrannical conduct of British commanders — Lord Rawdon's instruc- 
tions to Rugeley in regard to deserters and tliose aiding tliem — Arrest 
of citizens of Camden — Effect of Britisla violations of paroles — Colonel 
Lisle carries over a battalion of militia to Sumter — Davie crosses into 
South Carolina — Takes position in the Waxhaws — Follows up the blow at 
Williamson's plantation — Falls upon and captui-es convoy near Hanging 
Hock — Sumter joins Davie at Landsford — Council held, decides to attack 
the British at Hanging Kock and Rocky Mount — Sumter attacks Rocky 
Mount — Is repulsed — Davie again successfully attacks and defeats a 
party at Hanging Rock, and captures horses and arms in face of garrison 

— Detachments again meet at Landsford — Attack upon garrison at Hang- 
ing Rock determined upon — British forces there — Flan of attack dis- 
cussed — Davie disapproves, but is overruled by Sumter — Account of 
the battle — Sumter at first successful, but battle lost by plundering British 
stores — Losses on both sides — Ferguson advances — Threatens North 
Carolina — McDowell calls upon Sevier and Shelby for assistance — Sevier 
sends party under Major Robertson — Clarke again makes head in Georgia, 
enters South Carolina, and is joined by McCall — Capture of Fatrick 
Moore, noted Royalist — His escape — McDowell, Shelby, and Clarke 
attack Thicketty Fort and take it — Ferguson advances upon Shelby and 
Clarke — Culbertson's episode — Battle of Old Iron Works, or second 
battle of Cedar Spring — Both parties claim the victory — Losses on both 
sides — Summary of these affairs. 617-640. 

CHAPTER XXIX 

1780 

Major Wemyss marches to Cheraw — Atrocities committed by British 
and Tories — Wemyss I'eturns to Georgetown — Major McArthur with 
Seventy-first Regiment posted at the Cheraws — The Harrisons, men of bad 
character, given commissions by the British — The Seventy-first Regiment 
suffers from the climate — Bloody episode of tlie capture and escape of 
the Ayers — The affair at Hunt's Bluff — Tl)e Whigs capture Colonel 
Mills, with convoy of sick — Mills escapes — Ardesoif's jiroclaraation, car- 
rying out Sir Henry Clinton's — Public meeting at Williamsburg thereon 

— Major James sent to learn definitely as tt) its terms — His interview witli 
Ardesoif thereon — His escape and organization of nucleus of Marion's bri- 
gade — Marion chosen leader — Tory murders — Tarleton marches again-t 



XXviii CONTENTS 

the Whigs — McCottry pursues Tarleton — Tarleton, disguised, deceives 
Mr. Bradley, a Whig — Bradley arrested — His treatment — Hugh Horry 
joins IMarion — Marion arrives and takes command of brigade — On the 
move —Attacks Gainey — Major James's exploit — Marion ambuscades 
a party of Tories — Summary of engagements. 641-654. 



CHAPTER XXX 

1780 

De Kalb marches with the Maryland and Delaware line for the relief 
of Charlestown— Sketch of De Kalb — His arrival with Lafayette — His 
march to Deep River, North Carolina — General Caswell prepares to join 
him with North Carolina, and General Stevens with Virginia, militia — 
Washington desires Greene to succeed Lincoln, but Congress appoints 
Gates — Gates arrives and supersedes De Kalb — He advances — His mis- 
taken line of march — Suffering of his troops — Threatened mutiny — 
The way prepared for Gates — Lord Rawdon falls back from Hanging 
Rock — Caswell joins Gates — Want of discipline in Caswell's militia — 
Gates's difficulties increase — Refuses the assistance of White and Wash- 
ington's dragoons — Approaches the enemy without cavalry — Encum- 
bered by women, children, and baggage — Positions of the two armies — 
Expresses reach Lord Cornwallis, at Charlestown, of Gates's approach — 
He sets out immediately for Camden — Stevens joins Gates — Gates enter- 
tains spy from Camden — Sumter informs Gates of approach of British 
wagon train and convoy; i^roposes to capture it — Gates assents, details 
Colonel AVoolford to assist him — Sumter captures convoy and train — 
Gates orders an advance — His disposition for battle — Offends Colonel 
Armand — Has no returns of his troops — His estimate of his force — 
Calls a council — Determines to fight — Lord Cornwallis determines to 
attack Gates — Ignorant of each other's movements, both armies advance to 
battle — Cornwallis's disposition — Collision of advance parties — Gates's 
surprise at movement of CornwiUlis — Calls council — De Kalb advises 
retreat — Stevens declares it too late — Disposition for battle — Accounts 
of the battle — Gates's incompetency — He is defeated and flees — Rout 
and slaucrhtor ensu(( — Death of De Kalb — Davin meets Gates — Gates 
orders him to fall back — Davie refuses — Davie sends message to warn 
Sumter — Cornwallis despatches Tarleton to overtake Sumter and rescue 
prisoners — Tarleton surprises Sumter, and cuts his party to pieces — 
Sumter escapes. 655-685. 



CONTENTS xxix 

CHAPTER XXXI 

1780 

Ferguson receives express from TunibuU telling of Sumter's attack 
upon Hanging Rock, and orders to join him — Ferguson sets out to do so 
— McDowell, Shelby, and Clarke thereupon determine to attack the 
British post at Musgrove's Mills, exposed by Ferguson's absence — McCall, 
Hammond, Williams, and Krandon join the expedition — Sketch of Will- 
iams and Brandon — Shelby, Clarke, and Williams in joint command — 
Their rapid march — Collision of advanced parties — Colonel Innes com- 
mands British force — Its composition — Battle of Musgrove's Mills takes 
place — Account of it — In the moment of victory express arrives inform- 
ing Shelby and Clarke of Gates's defeat — They decide to retreat with 
their prisoners — Ueti-eat successfully conducted — Losses in the battle — 
Women visit the battle-field — Marion rescues the prisoners taken by the 
British at Camden — Some of the rescued prisoners desert — Major James 
surprises Wemyss near Williamsburg, and takes prisoners — Marion 
retreats to North Carolina. G8G-702. 

CHAPTER XXXII 

1780 

Lord Cornwallis's critical position notwithstanding his great victory — 
Leaders of the Revolution all prisoners and Continental army destroyed, 
but new men spring up in their places — Sixteen battles fought in six 
weeks — Comparative losses and gains — Cornwallis's troops suffer from 
sickness — His difficulty in i-ecruiting — Failure of scheme of conquering 
Americans by Americans — Severe measures taken by him to suppress 
the rising of the people — His unwise and cruel orders — Citizens at 
Camden hanged — Convention of Loyalist militia — Their agreement — 
Treatment of citizens in Charlestown — Balfour succeeds Patterson as 
commandant of the town — His character — Citizens arrested and sent to 
St. Augustine — Moultrie protests — Questions as to their paroles consid- 
ered — New paroles required of exiles — Chi-istopher Gadsden refuses to 
give his, and is confined in the Castle at St. Augustine — Treatment of 
exiles — Certain citizens accept protection — The property of others con- 
fiscated — Effects of Cornwallis's administration. 703-730. 

CHAPTER XXXIII 

1780 

Clarke leaves prisoners with Williams, and returns to Georgia — Will- 
iams safely conducts prisoners to llillsboro. and is made Brigadier General 



XXX CONTENTS 

— Browne carries out Corii\valli.s\s sanguinary orders — Clarke and McCall 
attempt the recovery of Georgia — McCail attempts to raise a force in 
Ninety-Six District — Tickens refuses to come out — McCali raises but 
eighty men — With these he joins Clarke — They advance upon Augusta, 
and lay siege to the town — Account of the siege — Siege raised — Colonel 
Cruger pursues Clarke, who escapes into North Carolina — Davie again in 
the field — Made Colonel of cavalry — Cornwallis, reenforccd, marches to 
the Waxliaws — Davie's brilliant affair at Wahub's plantation — Corn- 
wallis crosses the Catawba and advances upon Charlotte — Davie opposes 
his advance — His fight with the British Legion — His little band keeps 
Cornwallis's whole army at bay — Cornwallis, at Charlotte, finds difficulty 
in obtaining supplies — Marion returns — Sends James to obtain informa- 
tion — Wemyss's brutal conduct — Hangs Cusack in presence of his wife 
and family — Marion returns from North Carolina — Attacks and defeats 
Tynes at Black Mingo — Postell captures De Peystcr — Summary of events. 
731-754. 

CHAPTER XXXIV 

1780 

Ferguson's movements — Ambuscaded by McDowell at Cowan's Ford 

— Retires to Gilbert Town — Sends threats to the mountain men — His 
message rouses them, and they determine to destroy him — Shelby and 
Sevier send for Cleveland — Sevier borrows the public money from Adair, 
the entry taker — Shelby sends to Colonel Campbell, in Virginia, asking 
assistance — Campbell hesitates, but decides to join expedition — Camp 
at Sycamore Shoals — Expedition set out after prayer for divine assistance 

— Two men desert to the enemy — Line of march changed — Message 
sent by McDowell to Gates, asking for appointment of a leader — Mean- 
while Colonel Cami)bell requested to command — Cleveland's address to 
his followers — Major Candler, with party of Georgians, joins the expedi- 
tion — Sumter's men refuse to recognize Williams's ap]Hiintment as Briga- 
dier General — History of his relations with Sumter and his followers, and 
of the causes of their opposition to him — Delegation sent to Governor 
Kutledge protesting against his appointment — Meanwhile, Lacey and Hill 
command Sumter's brigade — Williams, Brandon, and Hill organize party 
in North Carolina — Two parties march separately — Williams and Bran- 
don attempt to induce mountaineers to go into Ninety-Six — Lacey's great 
night ride to counteract their movements — He succeeds — All parties 
unite at Cowpens. 755-775. 



CONTENTS XXXI 

CHAPTER XXXV 

1780 

Ferguson intent upon intercepting Clarke's fugitives — Awakens to 
tlie gathering clans around him — Informs Cornwallis, and promises to 
join him — His curious proclamation — His movements and dispatches 
to Cornwallis — Neither dispatch reaches his lordship — He takes posi- 
tion at King's Mountain — Position described — Interesting exploits of 
Whig spies — Colonel Campbell continued in command — Strength of the 
respective parties of Whigs — Dispositions made for the attack — Night 
march — And rain — Gilmer the scout's exploit — Position and strength 
of Ferguson's party ascertained — Plan of battle agreed upon — Battle 
fought between Americans, Whigs and Tories — No British troops pres- 
ent — Composition and strength of Ferguson's force — Characteristics of 
the Whig troops engaged — Final disposition for the fight — Account of 
the battle — Ferguson killed — De Peyster surrenders — Firing after white 
flag raised, partly accidental, partly in revenge — Further bloodshed — 
By mistake, Williams killed — Ferguson's heroic conduct — Losses on 
both sides — The mountaineers depart — Lacey and Hill remain in the 
neighborhood — Trial and execution of prisoners for treason. 776-805. 

CHAPTER XXXVI 

1780 

Cornwallis harassed by Davie as he lies at Charlotte — Rumors of 
Ferguson's defeat — Cornwallis sends Tarleton to Ferguson's assistance 

— Tarleton reluctantly obeys — Kumors of Ferguson's defeat confirmed 

— Cornwallis precipitately retreats — Difficulties of his retreat through 
the Waxhaws — Is taken ill — Kawdon assumes command — British take 
position at Winnsboro — Their plan of campaign disconcerted — Disposi- 
tion of the troops for defence — Governor Rutledge appoints Sumter 
Brigadier General, and puts him in command of all South Carolina militia 

— His instructions to Sumter — Marion also appointed Brigadier General 

— Whole country from Santee to Pee Dee in arms — Tarleton sent to 
crush Marion — His brutal conduct at Richardson's plantation — Marion 
retreats — North Carolina militia ailvance from Charlotte — Davie follows 
Cornwallis into South Carolina — Sumter again takes the field — Weniyss 
attacks Sumter at Fishdam and is defeated — Himself badly wounded and 
taken prisoner — Tarleton recalled from pursuit of Marion to meet Sumter 

— His rapid march across the State — Sumter seeks battle at Williamson's 



XXxii CONTENTS 

plaiitalioii, but British refuse to meet him — Tarletoii attempts to sur- 
prise Sumter, but fails — Sumter takes position at Bhickstock — Tarletou 
attacks him there, but is defeated — Sumter badly wounded — Tarletou 
claims the victory, but British as well as American authors deny it — 
Clarke and McCall attempt to raise the militia in Ninety-Six — Are joined 
by Colonel P'ew, who assumes command — Cruger sends Colonel Allen t(j 
attack them — Battle takes place at Long Cane— Clarke and McCall 
and Lindsay wounded — Few defeated — Atrocities of Buford massacre 
repeated — Lindsay killed after battle. 800-834. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

1780 

Events in the Northern Slates during the year 1780 — Arrival of the 
French fleet — Washington endeavors to procure reenforcements to his 
army — Estimates of its strength — Its weakness not owing to numbers 
sent to South Carolina, but to the low condition of public sentiment at 
the North — Washington's difficulties in obtaining supplies — Action of 
Congress allowing supplies in kind to be furnished — New Jersey's action 
thereon — Bills drawn on Jay and Laurens — Greene resigns as Quarter- 
master General — Miserable condition of Washington's army— Committee 
of Congress visits it, but affords no relief — Mutiny of Connecticut regi- 
ments—Lafayette returns from France with news of the coming of 
another French fleet — Fleet arrives — Arrangements for cooperation with 
it — French troops disembark at Newport — British navy, reenforced, 
blocks up Newport harbor and "bottles up" the French — Arnold's 
treason follows, and Andrtj's execution — Controversy over committee of 
Congress's report — Continental and French armies go into winter quarters 
— Review of what had been accomplished in South Carolina during this 
year, with tables of battles and casualties. 8oy-858. 



IXPKX 



859 



MAPS AND PLANS 

Map. The Battle-fields of Sotth Carolina, 1775-80 Frontispiece 

llETWEEN PAGES 

Map of Battle of Fout Moiltrie, 1776 .... 139-140 

Map of Charlestown Neck, 1779 355-356 

Plan of Siege of Charlestown, 1780 444-445 

Plan of Battle of Camden 672-673 

Plan of Battle of King's Mocntain ..... 780-781 



HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE 
REVOLUTION 

CHAPTER I 

1775 

The battle of Lexington in 1775 precipitated the war 
of the Revolution, just as that of Fort Sumter in 1861 
did tlie War of Secession ; and although the condition of 
affairs rendered the commencement of hostilities in each 
of these cases imminent, if not inevitable, each party 
sought to throw the blame of beginning the war upon its 
opponent, liut when public affairs have reached the pass 
that armed men confront each other, it is useless to ask 
who struck the first blow. Neither party will forbear to 
strike when it sees its advantage to do so. Nor does the 
striking in such cases alwa3's depend upon the volition of 
either of the parties who so stand before each other ; an 
accident may at any time bring on the collision. 

The American colonies were not prepared or ready to 
commit themselves to hostilities when the excitement or 
mistake of one, or of both, of the parties brought on the 
battle of Lexington. And so it was that rather than boast 
of and glory in this, the initiatory act of the war, as Ameri- 
cans now do, both the British and Americans disowned it, 
and took immediate steps to demonstrate to the world, 
and to perpetuate the testimony, that they severally were 
not the aggressors. The British officers alleged that they 
were fired on from a stone wall before they attacked the 

VOL. III. B 1 



2 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

militia coinpiiiiy at Lexington ; while uu the part of the 
Americans numerous depositions were taken, all going to 
prove that both at Lexington and at the bridge near Concord 
the first lire was received by them ; and care was taken to 
lay these depositions before the Continental Congress as 
oai'ly as possible, when that body met in May.^ So, too, 
the intelligence of tlie capture of Ticonderoga was imme- 
diately communicated to Congress, and the resolution 
adopted in C()nsc(pience furnishes, says Marshall, strong 
evidence of the solicitude felt by that body to exonerate 
the government in the opinion of the people at large from 
all suspicion of aggression, or of provoking a continuance 
of the war by transcending the limits of self-defence. ^ 
Even after the battle of Bunker Hill had been fought 
the Continental Congress sent " a decent, dutiful, and 
truly filial petition " to the king by the hands of Gov- 
ernor Penn of Pennsylvania, who, being called to its bar 
and examined by the House of Lords, thereon absolutely 
denied the charge that aii}' designs of independency had 
been formed by Congress, and assured that body that the 
war was levied and carried on Ijy the colonists merely in 
defence of Avhat they thought their liberties ; adding, 
however, that the spirit of resistance was general, and that 
the colonists believed themselves able to defend those liber- 
ties against the arms of Great Britain.^ 

Such, at the time of the arrival of Lord William Camp- 
bell, Governor of South Carolina, was the extreme posi- 
tion of the revolutionists in the province.* 

1 Marshall's Life of ]Vat>hin<jton, vol. II. 200. 207. 

2/&W., 20r), 20(5. 

8 Annual Itc(jititcr, vol. XIX (1770), 05 ; Gordon's Amer. War, vol. II, 
231. 

* Lord William Caiiipbell was tiie third brother of the Duke of Argyle, 
and had married Miss Sarah Izard, daii,i;ht.er of Ralph Izard of South 
Carolina. See Hist, of So. Ca. mulcr Roij. Gov. (MeCrady), 700, 794. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 3 

It will be remembered that the Provincial Congress, 
which upon the receipt of the news of the battle of Lex- 
ington had been reconvened upon the 4th of June, 1775, 
that day being a Sunday, after divine service had been 
])erformed before it, had organized an Association which 
was practically a provisional government of the people. 
The instrument embodying this government having been 
prepared, was with great solemnity then signed by Henry 
Laurens, President of the Congress, and after the Presi- 
dent each member had aihxed his name, whereby he bound 
himself under every tie of religion and honor to stand 
Avith his fellow-members as a band in defence of South 
Carolina against an}^ foe, solemnly engaging that when- 
ever the Continental or Provincial Councils should deem 
it necessary, they would go forth ready to sacrifice their 
lives and fortunes to secure her freedom and safety. This 
was the first independent or revolutionary government set 
up in any of the colonies. 

To carry on this government the Congress^ before it 
adjourned had appointed three committees and a Council 
of Safety, to which it had delegated large and compre- 
hensive powers. 

1. There was the G-eneral Committee composed for con- 
venience of the representatives in that body from Charles- 
town, as they could easily be convened for the despatch 
of business, and also of such other members of the Con- 
gress as happened at any time to be in the town, who 
were required to attend. This body was both judicial and 
executive. It was its function to explain the regulations 
of Congress — a vast power in itself — and to cause them 
to be executed. The immediate representative of the 
town had jurisdiction as to the collection of debts. A 
subcommittee of Inspection was formed to take cognizance 
of the arrival of vessels and of cargoes, and also of the 



4 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

conduct of the people, and to report thereon to the General 
Committee, whose directions they were to obey. The 
representatives of tlie parishes and districts composed their 
local committees, and they were also assisted by commit- 
tees of Inspection.^ 

2. The Secret Committee of live persons, which had been 
appointed on the 16th of January, under a resolution 
couched in the following general terms, " calculated," as 
it was said, " to bear ample construction for the public 
service." 

" Resolved that a secret committee of five proper persons be 
appointed by the President of this Congress to procure and distribute 
such articles as the present insecure state of the interior parts of this 
colony renders necessary for the better defence and security of the 
good people of those parts and other necessanj purposes. Resolved 
that this Congress will indemnify and support the said committee in 
all their doings touching the premises." ^ 

The members of the committee were: William Henry 
Drayton, Arthur Middleton, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
William Gibbes, and Edward Weyman. 

3. On the 3d of May a private letter had been received 
from Arthur Lee in London, intimating that a plan had 
been laid before the Royal government for instigating 
the negroes to insurrection, which seems to have been 
believed, and to have been regarded as more alarming 
because it was known that some of the negroes entertained 
the idea that the contest was for their emancipation. To 
meet, therefore, whatever might arise, a Special Committee 
was appointed to form such plans as they should think 
immediately necessary to be cai'ried into execution "for 
the security of the good people of the colony." The 
members of the committee were: William Henry Drayton, 

^ Momoirs of thr Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 175. 

- Ibid., 221 ; Jlisl. of So. Ca. under Jloij. Gov. (McCrady), 786, 



IN THE REVOLUTION" 5 

Barnard Elliott, George Gabriel Powell, William Tennent, 
Arthur Mitldleton, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, William 
Gibbes, John Hiiger, Edward Weyman, Thomas Lynch, 
Jr., and Thomas Bee.^ This committee, it will be ob- 
served, was but an enlargement of the Secret Committee 
just mentioned. 

4. On the 14th of June a Couneil of Safety was called into 
existence. This council was vested with supreme power 
over the army, the militia, and all military affairs; in fact, 
they were the executive government of the colony, though 
the powers of the G-eneral Committee do not appear to have 
been abridged. To this council was delegated authority 
to grant commissions, suspend officers, order court mar- 
tials, direct, regulate, maintain, and order the array and all 
military establishments, and of drawing on the Treasury 
for all purposes of public service. ^ The Council of Safety 
consisted of the following gentlemen: Henry Laurens, 
Charles Pinckney, Kawlins Lowndes, Thomas Ferguson, 
Miles Brewton, Arthur Middleton, Thomas Hey ward, Jr., 
Thomas Bee, John Huger, James Parsons, William Henry 
Drayton, Benjamin Elliott, and William Williamson. 

The powers and jurisdiction of these various commit- 
tees were very indefinite, and in some instances conflicting. 
But they were composed of the same set of men, several 
of whom were on more than one ; William Henry Drayton 
and Arthur Middleton were upon all of them. 

Vigorous measures were now taken to enforce the 
government thus set up, to the exclusion of that of his 
Majesty's, which now, though having a full complement 
of officers, civil and military, was stripped of all but the 

1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 231. 

'^Ibid., 255. William Henry Drayton claimed that this was the 
origin of Councils of Safety in the colonies. Ibid., Introduction, 
xviii, xix. 



6 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

mere semblance of power. All non-subscribers to the 
Association, — that is, all who would not join in the new 
order — were made amenable to the General Committee, 
and by them punishable according to '•'■sound policy.^'' 
Those who violated or refused obedience to the authority 
of the Congress were made amenable before the parochial 
and district committees, and upon their being found guilty, 
and proving contumacious, were to be declared inimicable 
to the liberties of America, and objects for the public 
resentment. All absentees holding estates in this colony, 
except those who were abroad on account of their health, 
and those under sixty years of age and above twenty- 
one, were called upon fortliwith to return, and no persons 
holding estates in the colony were permitted to witlidraw 
from its service without giving good and sufficient rea- 
sons for doing so.^ 

On the 18th of June, 1775, his Excellency, Lord Will- 
iam Campbell, the newly appointed Royal Governor, 
landed in Charlestown. With the tacit permission of 
the Council of Safety the militia were drawn up to 
receive him ; but there was no feu de joie as had been 
usual on such an occasion ; neither was there any loud 
and heart}^ acclaim of citizens when his commission as 
Governor was publicly read before him from the portico 
of the Exchange. Tlie citizens, for the most part, pre- 
served a sullen silence. Notwithstanding his connection 
with the colony, no private gentlemen awaited his Excel- 
lency's landing, nor attended his parade along the streets, 
as was customary. He was received only by the colonel 
of the militia, and the placemen counsellors, including the 
chief justice and associate judges, the collector of the port 
and clerks of council and of the courts, and some officers 
of liis Majesty's sliip, the Scorpion, then in tlie harbor. 
^ Memoirs of the Jievolntioti (Drayton), vol. I, 236. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 7 

The whole of the escort did not exceed fifteen persons. 
Lieutenant Governor Bull had not even come down from 
Ashley Hall to receive his Excellency, though they were, 
no doubt, well acquainted personally. Lady Campbell 
was part owner with her sister of one of the finest resi- 
dences in the town, which still stands in Meeting Street, 
nearly opposite Ladson Street, which his Excellency was 
to occupy ; but as it was not then ready for their recep- 
tion, his Excellency and his lady accepted the hospitality 
of Miles Brewton,^ their connection, and took up their 
temporary residence in his mansion on King Street, the 
same in which Josiah Quincy had been entertained by 
Brewton two years before. ^ Miles Brewton had, as we 
have seen, just been appointed one of the Council of Safety 
of the revolutionary party. 

Three days after his arrival, that is, on the 21st of 
June, a deputation from the Provincial Congress, headed 
by William Henry Drayton, and of which the Governor's 
host, Miles Brewton, was one, waited on his Excellency 
and presented to him an address. This address is impor- 
tant as indicating the temper and purpose which still ani- 
mated the people generally, even those who were active 
in resisting the government. It opens with a description 
of the representatives of the people of the colony in Con- 
gress assembled as "his IMajesty's loyal subjects," and 
begs leave to disclose to his Excellency the true causes of 
their present proceedings, that upon his arrival among 
them he might receive no unfavorable impressions of their 
conduct. 

" We declare," the address proceeds, " tliat no love of innovation — 
no desire of altering the constitution of (iovernnient — no lust of 

^ Miles Brewton had married Mary, daui^litcr of Joseph Izard, who 
was a first cousin of Lady Carapbell. 

2 Hist, of So. Ca. under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 706. 



8 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

independence, has had the least influence upon our counsels ; but 
alanued and roused by a long succession of arbitrary proceedings, by 
wicked administrations — impressed with the greatest danger of 
instigated insurrections, and deeply affected by the commencement 
of hostilities by the British troops against this continent — solely for the 
preservation and in defence of our lives, liberties, and properties, we 
have been impelled to associate and to take up arms." 

By this address the Congress declared that the people 
wished for nothing more ardently than a speedy recon- 
ciliation with their mother countr}^ upon constitutional 
principles. They again jn-ofessed their loyal attachment 
to their sovereign, his crown and dignity ; and thought it 
their duty to declare these things that his Excellency, and 
through his Excellency their august sovereign, their fel- 
low-subjects, and the whole world might clearly under- 
stand that their taking up arms was the result of a dire 
necessity. They entreated his Excellency to assure his 
Majesty that in the midst of all their complicated dis- 
tresses he had no subjects who more sincerely desired 
to testify their loyalty and affections or who would be 
more willing to devote their lives and fortunes in his real 
service. 

His Excellency had had twenty-four hours' notice that 
this address would be presented to him, and he received 
it. In his reply he said he knew of no representatives of 
the people of the province except tliose constitutionally 
convened in the General Assembly ; that he was incom- 
petent to judge of the disputes which, unhappil}'", existed 
between Great Britain and the American colonies ; that 
it was impossible during the short interval since his 
arrival that he should have acquired such a knowledge of 
the state of the province as to enable him to make any 
representation thereupon to his Majesty ; but that no rep- 
resentation should ever be made by him inconsistent with 



IN THE REVOLUTION 9 

truth and an earnest endeavor to promote the real happi- 
ness and prosperity of the province. 

Lord William Campbell was, indeed, in a most embarrass- 
ing position. His wife's relations were all more or less 
embarked in the American cause. Her brothers, Ralph 
and Walter Izard, were conunitted to it, and their cousin 
Ralph Izard, Jr., then in Europe, had been one of those 
living in London who had gotten up the petition to the 
King the year before against the passage of the Boston 
Port bill, and was now actively assisting the cause and 
only remaining abroad at the instance of the leaders here 
who thought he might be more useful in Europe. His 
Lordship had received the address from this revolutionary 
body, and had respectfully replied to it, though fully 
aware of its contents a day before it was presented. He 
had hardly done so, however, before he began to repent. 
The words " and take up arms " and " 02(r taking up arms " 
now struck him with great alarm, and he began to fear he 
had made a mistake in receiving the paper at all. He 
was much disturbed, and long discussed it with his host 
Mr. Brewton, who, though one of the Council of Safety, 
was liimself in great doubt as to the course which events 
were taking. Lord William could not sleep for anxiety, 
and in the night called up Mr. Brewton, who had retired, 
to express his apprehension that these words would 
cause troops to be immediately sent to the colony. He 
entreated Mr. Brewton to use his best endeavor to cause 
these obnoxious words to be erased from the proceedings 
of the Provincial Congress and from the address which 
had been delivered to him, and to substitute some less 
objectionable phrases. He was, he said, willing to be 
sworn to secrecy, if the words were changed. Impressed 
alike by the Governor's fears and his own, Mr. Brewton 
approached three or four members of the Congress ; but as 



10 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

objection was at once made, it was tliought better to drop 
the matter rather than aHow the Governor's doubtful con- 
duct to become the subject of public discussion.^ 

The Provincial Congress had, as we have seen, deter- 
mined to organize a military force of three regiments. It 
will be useful as well as interesting to glance at the mili- 
tary organization at the time. The province was then 
divided into twelve military districts, to wit : — 

1. Charles town. 

2. Berkeley County. 

3. Granville Count}^ i.e. the present counties of Beau- 
fort and Hampton. 

4. Craven Count}", the country generally north of the 
Santee, and east of the Camden District. 

6. Colleton County, the country between Charlestown 
and Granville County. 

6. Orangehurgh, the present counties of Orangeburg, 
Barnwell, Lexington, and Aiken. 

7. The Cheraws, the country east of Lynch's Creek 
adjoining Craven County, the Pee Dee Section, the 
present counties of Chesterfield, Marlboro, Darlington, 
and Marion. 

8. Ninety-Six, the country between tlie Saluda and 
Savannah rivers, the present counties of Edgefield, Abbe- 
ville, and Anderson. 

9. Camden, the country between Lynch's Creek and 
the Congaree, the present counties of Richland, Kershaw, 
Sumter, Fairfield, and Chester. 

10. The Forks of Saluda, the lower part of the country 
between the Saluda and Broad, that is, the present 
counties of Newberry, Laurens, and Union. 

11. Upper Saluda, the present counties of Spartanburg, 
Laurens, and Union. 

1 Memoirs of the Am. Itcvohdion (Drayton), vol. I, 262, 263. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 11 

12. The New District^ or New Acquisition, the present 
county of York. In each of these districts the militia 
was organized into a Regiment of Infantry. 

Besides which there was a Regiment of Horse in the 
lower part of the province, but we have no definition of 
its territorial limits. The different regiments varied in 
number according to the population. In 1770 Lieutenant 
Govei-nor Bull reports the militia at ten thousand, Wells's 
liegister and Almanac for 1771 gives the number in 1773 
as thirteen thousand. Dr. George Milligan, Chief Sur- 
geon of the forces, estimated them at fourteen thousand. ^ 
There was a small garrison or guard at Fort Johnson of 
six men under a commander, or governor as he was called ; 
there was a commander of each of the two bastions in 
tlie town, Brougliton's and Lyttleton's, but there is no 
mention of an}^ guard to them ; the appointment was 
probably merely nominal. For several years the militia 
of the town were drilled at these batteries and at Fort 
Johnson. 2 An independent company or guard Avas 
stationed at Fort Charlotte on the Savannah, near New 
Bordeaux in Ninety-Six, and probably also at Fort 
Moore, near the present site of the city of Augusta.^ 

^ A Chapter on the Colonial Historrj of the Carolinas (W. J. Rivers), 67. 

2 Government of the Colony of So. Ca. (Militia), Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity Studies. 13 Series, I, II (Wliitney), 92-93. 

3 In Wells's liegister and Almanac for 1775 we find the following 
roster of the militia and military posts : — 

Provincial 3filitia, consisting of Thirteen Eegiments, viz. : — 
One Regiment of Horse. 

Colonel: William Monltrie ; Lieutenant Colonel: ; Major: . 

Twelve Regiments of Foot. 
Charlestoirn. C()/oneZ ; Charles Pincknoy; Lieutenant Colonel : J a,mes 
Parsons; Major: William Savage; Captains: Paul Townsend, Maurice 
Simons, John McCall, Jun., Edward Simons, Peter Leger, MacCartan 
Campbell, Koger Smith, Philothoos ^hiffclle. Charles Motfe ; Lieuten- 
ants : Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Samuel Legar^, John Brewton, 



12 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

In the divided condition of popular opinion, even upon 
the coast, and the great opposition to the revolutionary 

Robert Ladson, Thomas Inglis, Alexander Moultrie, John McQueen, 
John Smyth, James Peronueau, William Glen, Thomas Phepoe, Benja- 
min Legar6 ; Ensigns: Benjamin Dickinson, John Mathews, John Blake, 
Keating Simons, Peter Smith, James Wakefield, John Baddely; Adju- 
tant : John Smith; Siirgeon General: Dr. John Haly; Surgeon to Grena- 
dier Company ; Dr. Thomas Tudor Tucker ; Surgeon to the Light Infantry 
Company : Dr. Tucker Harris. 

Artillery Company. Owen Roberts, Captain; Barnard Beekman, 
Captain Lieutenant; Barnard Elliott, Thomas Grimball, Jr., Lieuten- 
ants; Benjamin Huger, Thomas Hey ward, Jr., Edward Rutledge, Lieu- 
tenant Fireioorkers ; Rev. Robert Smith, Chaplain. 

Berkeley County. Richard Singleton, Colonel; George Padon Bond, 
Liexitenant Colonel; Stephen Miller, Major. 

Granville County. Stephen Bull of Sheldon, Colonel; Benjamin 
Garden, Lieutenant Colonel; John Lewis Bourquin, Major. 

Craven County. Job Rothmahler, Colonel; Daniel Horry, Lieuten- 
ant Colonel ; Major. 

Colleton County. Joseph Glover, Colonel; Samuel Elliott, Lieutenant 
Colonel ; James La Roche, Major. 

Orangebnrgh. William Thomson, Colonel; Christopher Rowe, Lieu- 
tenant Colonel ; Lewis Golson, Major. 

Cheraios. George Gabriel Powell, Colonel; Charles Augustus Stew- 
ard, Lieutenant Colonel; Abraham Buckholts, Major. 

Ninety-Six. John Savage, Colonel ; James Mayson, Lieutenant Colo- 
nel ; Andrew Williamson, Major. 

Camden. Richard Richardson, Colonel; James McGirth, Lieutenant 
Colonel; Samuel Cantey, Major. 

Forks of Saluda. Robert Starke, Colonel ; Moses Kirkland, Lieuten- 
ant Colonel; Tyrrel," Major. 

Upper Saluda. Thomas Fletchall, Colonel; John Lisle, Lieutenant 
Colonel; John Caldwell, 3[ajor. 

New District. Thomas Neel, Colonel; Ezekiel Polk, Lieutenant Colo- 
nel ; Joseph Robinson, Major. 

Forts and Garrisons, etc. 

Colonel Probart Howarth, Governor of Fort Johnson. 

George Milligan, Esq., Chief Surgeon to all the garrisons for his 
Majesty's forces in the province ; John Mackie, John Cleiland, Surgeon 
Mates. 

a Jeremiah Terry, 



IN THE KEVOLUTION" 13 

movement in the upper country, it was manifest to the 
Provincial Congress that no reliance could be placed upon 
the regularly organized militia to carry out their purposes, 
as the militia would necessarily embrace men of all shades 
of political opinion. It was determined, therefore, to 
organize a force independent of that body. According to 
our present ideas, it would be supposed that volunteers 
would have been called for, and organized into regiments 
to take the field — a force in whicli the best men of all 
classes would serve in the ranks if necessary from 
motives of patriotism. Five years later we shall see a 
purely volunteer system springing into existence in South 
Carolina after the fall of Charlestown and the loss of the 
Continental army, and we shall see the redemption of the 
State begun by volunteers serving without pay under 
Sumter, ^Marion, and Pickens ; but the Provincial Congress 
had no idea of such a system. Their plan was the organ- 
ization of a regular force officered by gentlemen, the rank 
and file of wdiich was to be formed of men enlisted for 
hire, such as the regular armies of Europe, the ranks of 
which Liter we shall see filled up by vagrants and 
offenders against the law, sentenced thereto by the courts. 
Gentlemen of fortune and family at once offered them- 
selves as candidates for commissions, and the Congress 
proceeded to choose these by ballot. Two of the regi- 
ments now raised were to be of the line, and designed for 
service principally on the coast. The Third Regiment 



lion. William Henry Drayton, Esq., Commander of Broughton's bas- 
tion, Charlestown. 

Edward Savage, Esq., Commander of Lyttleton's bastion, Charlestown. 

George Wliitetield, Esq., Caplain, and John Louis du Mesnil de St. 
Pierre, Lieutenant, of Fort Charlotte. 

John Poaug, Esq., Keeper of all his Majesty's ordnance, stores, etc., 
and Barrack Master of Charlestown. 



14 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to be recruited in the upper country was to be a regiment 
of Rangers, or mounted infantry, and designed for ser- 
vice in that region. ^ Christopher Gadsden was chosen 

1 The roster of ofldcers chosen for these regiments was as follows : — 

First Begiment. Colonel : Christopher Gadsden ; Lieutenant Colonel, 
Isaac Huger ; Major : Owen Roberts. 

Second Begiment. Colonel : William Moultrie ; Lieutenant Colonel : 
Isaac Motte ; Major : Alexander Mcintosh. 

Third Berjiment. Lieutenant Colonel: William Thomson ; Major: 
James Mayson. 

Company Officers of First and Second Bcgiments. Captains : 1, Charles 
Cotesworth I'inckney ; 2, Barnard Elliott ; 3, Francis Marion; 4, Will- 
iam Cattell ; 5, Peter Horry ; 6, Daniel Horry ; 7, Adam McDonald ; 
8, Thomas Lynch, Jr. ; 9, AYilliam Scott ; 10, John Barnwell ; 
11, Nicholas Eveleigh ; 12, James McDonald; 13, Isaac Harleston; 
14, Thomas Pinckney ; 15, Francis Huger; 16, 'William Mason; 17, Ed- 
mund Hyrne ; 18, Roger P. Sanders ; 19, Benjamin Cattell ; 20, Charles 
Motte. First Lieutenants : 1, Anthony Ashby ; 2, James Ladson ; 3, John 
Vanderhorst ; 4, John Mouat ; 5, Thomas Elliott ; 6, William Oliphant ; 
7, Glen Drayton; 8, Joseph loor ; 9, Robert Armstrong; 10, John 
Blake; 11, Alexander McQueen; 12, James Peronneau ; 13, Richard 
Shubrick ; 14, Richard Fuller ; 15, Richard Singleton ; 16, John Allen 
Walter ; 17, Benjamin Dickinson ; 18, William Charnock ; 19, Thomas 
Lesesne ; 20, Thomas Moultrie. Second Lieutenants : 21, Daniel Mazyck ; 
22, George Turner ; 23, Ephraim Mitchell ; 24, Henry Hughes ; 25, Jacob 
Shubrick ; 26, Simeon Theus ; 27, John Farr ; 28, Thomas Dunbar ; 

29, Press Smith ; 30, ; 31, George Eveleigh ; 32, William IMoultrie ; 

33, Philip Neyle ; 34, Thomas Hall ; 35, Henry Gray ; 36, Isaac Du Bose ; 
37, Joseph Elliott ; 38, Joseph Jenkins ; 39, William Hext ; 40, . 

Berjiment of Bangers. Captains: 1, Samuel Wise ; 2, Ezekiel Polk ; 
3, John Caldwell ; 4, Ely Kershaw ; 5, Robert Goodwyn ; 6, Moses Kirk- 
land ; 7, Edward Richardson ; 8, Thomas Woodward ; 0, John Purves. 
First Lieutenants: 1, John Lewis Peyer Imhoff ; 2, Charles Heatley ; 
3, Alan Cameron ; 4, Richard Winn ; 5, John Donaldson ; 6, Hugh Mid- 
dleton ; 7, Lewis Dutarque ; 8, Francis Boykin ; 9, Samuel Watson. The 
Council of Safety issued nine blank commissions for second lieutenants in 
the regiment, which were filled up by Colonel Thomson as follows : Felix 
Warley, Richard Brown, Samuel Taylor, William Martin, David Hopkins, 
Joseph Pledger, Thomas Charlton, John Woodward, and "Williani .Mitchell. 

liamsay's Bevolution, vol. I, 35-37 ; Coll. l/i.-tt. of Soc. So. Ca., vol. II, 
26-27; Memoirs of the Bevolution (Drayton), vert. I, 1775. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 15 

Colonel of the First, William Moultrie of the Second, 
and William Thomson Lieutenant Colonel of the Third 
Ilegiinent. But although these regiments were to be 
raised for hire, and the Provincial Congress undertook to 
provide pay, clothing, and maintenance to the amount of 
X 140,000 sterling, that body prudently avoided laying 
any tax or designating any particular fund for sinking 
the currency to be issued for the purpose. To defray the 
expenses bills of credit were issued which, though not a 
legal tender in law, and founded on nothing but the consent 
and zeal of the people, retained their credit for eighteen 
months, and answered every purpose of a circulating 
medium. The raising of troops to resist the government 
would seem to have been as treasonable a measure as 
could be conceived. And yet the Provincial Congress 
not only hesitated to commit itself by levying taxes to 
sup[)ort the troops it had determined to raise, but stood 
also upon another curious point. We are told that when 
it was proposed to issue commissions under seal for the 
officers they had chosen, a great majority of the Council 
Avould not hear of anything looking so independent, for 
which reason they oidy issued certificates expressing that 
" In pursuance of the resolution of the Provincial Con- 
gress A B is colonel, &c., of such a regiment, &c." 

These certificates were signed by members of the Council 
of Safety present.^ 

This force was said by William Henry Drayton to have been the first 
regular forces raised on the Continent. Ihid.^ Introduction, xviii. 

1 Memoirs of the. EevohUion (Drayton), vol. I, 265. This fear of the 
use of a seal was probably a survival of the regard, and almost supersti- 
tion, with which the Great Seal of England was regarded, (is exhibited 
by the Parliamentarian, when Littleton, the Lord Keeper, following his 
royal master Charles I, carried off the Great Seal, and thus for a time 
puzzled and hampered the Commons, who could scarcely conceive that 
anything could be done unless that emblem of authority lay upon the 
Lord Keeper's desk. 



16 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

But while raising this body of regular troops the militia 
organization was not abandoned. The militia colonels 
throughout the colony were ordered to cause the several 
companies in their respective regiments to be divided into 
three divisions, one-third of whom, drawn by lot, should 
hold themselves in readiness to march on twelve hours' 
notice, another third when called upon, and the other to 
remain for the protection of their respective districts.^ 
The working of this system in practice appears to have 
been the formation of companies of volunteers to respond 
to calls as above, instead of the selection by lot, and under 
this arrangement volunteer companies Avere formed very 
generally through the low country, and to some extent 
in the upper. As these companies were, however, only to 
be called upon for special services, they formed no such 
body of troops as the volunteers upon either side of the 
war between the States in 1861-65, or in the late Span- 
ish war ; nor indeed did they practically take any con- 
siderable part in the Revolution. 

One of the first measures of General Washington upon 
his arrival at Boston and assuming command of the colo- 
nial forces there was to call for a report of the ammunition 
on hand, and the report had stated 303 barrels in store. 
A few days after, however, the alarming discovery was 
made that there was in reality on hand only 9940 pounds, 
not more tlian sufficient to furnish each man witli nine 
cartridges. The mistake had been made in reporting the 
whole which had been originally furnished by the province 
of Ma;ssachusetts, and not estimating what had already been 
expended in the skirmishes around Boston. All the colo- 
nial governments and committees, as well as the Conti- 
nental Congress, were at once earnestly appealed to to 
send to Washington every pound of j)owder or lead which 

1 Cull. Ilisl. Sue. of So. Ca., vol. II, 59, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 17 

could be spared. " No quantity, however small," they 
were assured, '"was beneath notice."^ 

South Car(jlina was called upon to assist. A vessel 
arrived from Philadelphia laden with Indian corn, as a 
device by whicli a letter was brought from the delegates 
of the province in Congress dated the 1st of July, 1775, 
addressed to William Henry Drayton, Arthur Middleton, 
and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, members of the Secret 
Committee, stating that the vessel was sent by direction 
of the Continental Congress for gunpowder, and entreat- 
ing the committee to purchase all the powder that could 
be bought, and to dispatch back the vessel with all pos- 
sible speed. But how could the committee comply with 
the requisition? The folly of the non-importation plan 
had prevented any powder from coming in from abroad 
in exchange for rice — for even the exportation of this 
article, which, as we have seen, had been excepted from 
the general prohibition, had been since prohibited by the 
Provincial Congress. ^ IIow could the committee obtain 
gunpowder Avhen they could export nothing to exchange 
for it? The opportunity of doing so was, however, singu- 
lar! 3^ afforded — an opportunity which was at once seized 
u[)on, and the object most skilfully and gallantly accom- 
plished. 

John Stuart, whose romantic story has been told in a 
former volume,^ was now the General Agent and Superin- 
tendent of his Majesty's Indian Affairs for the southern 
district, comprehending Virginia, North and South Caro- 
lina, Georgia, and Florida, and as such by his Maj- 
esty's special Avrits of mandamus had a seat in the Council 
of each of these provinces. His influence over the Indians 

1 Marshall's Life of Washinyton, vol. II, 243. 

2 Memoirs of the lievolutiou (Drayton), vol. I, 255. 

* Hist, nf So. Ca. under Buy. Gov. (McCrady), 347, 349. 

VOL. III. — c 



18 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was extensive and imposing, and for some time it had 
been suspected that he was exercising this influence 
against the American cause. Information apparently 
confirming this suspicion having been received by the 
Secret Committee and hiid before the Provincial Congress 
when that body met on the 4th of June, j\Ir. Stuart sud- 
denly left Charlestown and Avent to Savannah. From that 
place i\Ir. Stuart wrote letters endeavoring to explain his 
conduct, and a correspondence followed between himself 
and a Committee of Intelligence of the Congress,^ which 
was not, however, altogether satisfactory. 

While this correspondence was going on intelligence 
was received that a ship with several tons of powder was 
expected very shortly to arrive at Savannah. With this 
powder Governor Wright of Georgia and the Superin- 
tendent had obtained leave of the government in England 
to supply the Indians, not, it was avowed, for the 
purpose of instigating them against the colonists, but 
as a means of keeping the savages attached to the British 
government. The Carolinians, on the other hand, were 
anxious to get this powder, not only because of its value, 
but because the want of it would greatly lessen Mr. Stu- 
art's influence with the Indians and lessen the danger 
from the Indians themselves. It was at once determined, 
therefore, to intercept the supply. The Secret Commit- 
tee engaged Captains John Barnwell and John Joyner to 
undertake the business. ^ 

Upon the receipt of their commissions these two gentle- 
men immediately embarked forty men, well armed, in two 
large barges, and proceeding toward the mouth of the 

1 This committee consisted of William Ilcnry Drayton, James Parsons, 
John Lewis Gervais, Arthur MicUUeton, William Tcnnent, and Thomas 
Heyward, Jr. 

=* Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 268, 269. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 19 

Savannah River took position on Bloody Point in South 
Carolina, in full view of Tybee Lighthouse and of the 
approach from sea to the Savannah bar. As it turned 
out, Captains Barnwell and Joyner had taken post with 
their men earlier than was necessary for the purpose of 
their enterprise, but the presence of an armed force there 
had a salutary effect upon affairs in Georgia, as it eaicour- 
aged tlie friends of the American cause in that province. 
Under this influence an association was formed and a 
congress held at Savannah on the 4th of July. Collec- 
tions were made for the support of the people of Boston, 
and it was declared that Georgia should not be an asylum 
of persons who from their conduct should be considered 
inimical to the cause of America. The Georgians also 
afforded every kind of assistance and support to Captains 
Barnwell and Joyner, and offered to join them immedi- 
ately in taking a British armed schooner then in the 
river, supposed to be waiting the arrival of the vessel 
from England with gunpowder. On other points the 
authorities in Carolina took time to consider, but Mr. 
Drayton and Mr. Middleton, impatient of delay, of their 
own authority sent them encouragement to fit out a 
schooner to be used as circumstances might require. 
Captain Joyner had, however, himself engaged a schooner, 
and arrangements were made for a juncture of the Caro- 
linians and Georgians. The schooner was commissioned 
by the Georgia Congress. The British armed schooner 
was lying outside the Savannah bar looking for the vessel 
with the powder, but no sooner did she find the colonial 
schooner coming down upon her than she weighed anchor, 
and went to sea with the utmost precipitation. She had 
scarcely done so when a vessel supposed to be that ex- 
pected with gunpowder appeared in sight. The vessel 
proved to be a ship commanded by Captain Maitland, 



20 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

probably the same who had commanded the Little Carpen- 
ter^ one of the reguhir packets between Charlestown and 
London, and who the year before had been interdicted by 
the General Committee from trading to the port of 
Charlestown because of s<jme chests of tea he had brought 
for the East India Company. No sooner was the colonial 
schooner recognized than, guessing her design, the ship 
tacked and stood out to sea. The schooner, however, 
pursued and brought her to, and witli the assistance of 
the Carolina party and their barges, boarded her and 
secured their prize. The powder found on this vessel 
turned out, however, not to be that for which Governor 
Wright had applied, but a consignment to private parties, 
merchants of Charlestown and of St. Augustine, as Avell as 
of Savannah, upon wliich the Carolinians took what was 
intended for their merchants and for those of St. Augus- 
tine, and the Georgians took what belonged to their i)eo- 
ple. In this distribution the Carolinians obtained about 
seven thousand pounds and the Georgians about nine 
thousand. 

The letter of the delegates in Congress to the Secret 
Committee had not been divulged even to the Council of 
Safety ; but having, through the individual responsibility 
of William Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton, suc- 
ceeded in securing this powder, the Secret Committee 
now communicated the whole of their intelligence to that 
body. It was proposed then to write to the Provincial 
Congress of Georgia to assist in the loan to ]\rassachusetts, 
but it was deemed better to send a deputation for the 
l)urpose, and William Henry Draytcm and Miles Brewton 
were accordingl}'- sent. These gentlemen succeeded in 
procuring a loan of 5000 lbs. of the 12,700 lbs. which 
the Georgians had on hand. On the 21st of July the 
express boat which had come from Philadelphia was dis- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 21 

patched by the Secret Committee of South Carolina with 
the five thousand pounds of powder to the Continental 
Congress at Pliiladelphia, and passing through the bar 
of North Edisto she began her voyage for that destina- 
tion. She happily arrived at Philadelphia, and it was by 
the arrival of this vessel that the powder was supplied 
which enabled the American arms to be carried into 
Canada, and that the siege of Boston was continued. ^ 

Another venture was equally successful. Learning 
that there was a considerable quantity of powder at the 
island of New Providence, the Council of Safety deter- 
mined to seize it. The sloop Commerce was taken into 
service and armed for the occasion, and on the 24th of 
July, 1775, Clement Lempriere was commissioned and put 
in command ; on the 25th he received his instructions, on 
the 26th sailed over the bar with a crew of volunteers, 
and on the 28th arrived at Beaufort, where he landed his 
stores and proceeded to clean liis vessel. While thus 
engaged he received direction from the Council of Safety 
to proceed with all dispatch toward St. Augustine, and 
cruise off its bar, as a vessel was daily expected there with 
a large quantity of powder. Captain Lempriere at once 
obeyed liis orders, and on the 7th of August lie made 
Matanzas, where he anchored. On the next morning he 
ran down toward the bar of St. Augustine, where he saw 
a vessel at anchor which proved to be the brigantine Betsey 
from London, the very vessel for Avhich his cruise was 
directed. lie at once boarded her and found much pow- 
der and a quantity of military stores. One hundred and 
eleven barrels, one-half barrel, and thirty-seven small 
kegs of powder were immediately transferred from the 
Betsey to the Commerce. This was effected by Captain 
Lempriere, though the brigantine was armed with two 
^ Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 271, 273. 



22 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

pieces of cannon, and had on board twelve soldiers who, 
with the crew, amounted to twenty-four in all, while his 
own force was twenty-one whites and five blacks. After 
spiking the two guns, he reembarked his men and made 
sail with his prize- 
There Avas an alarm now in Gharlestown that an armed 
vessel was in pursuit of the Commerce^ and several com- 
panies of Colonel Stephen BulFs militia regiment were 
marched into Beaufort to protect the powder; a detach- 
ment of artillery and Captain William Cattel's com- 
pany of regulars were also sent for the same purpose. A 
small part of the powder was left at Beaufort, where the 
Commerce had arrived safely, and the remainder, amount- 
ing to ninety-one barrels, was put on board another vessel 
and brought to Charlestown. The powder taken by 
Captain Lempriere was about 11,900 pounds, Avhich with 
the 7000 pounds taken from Captain Maitland, and 3074 
taken from the King's magazine in Charlestown and its 
vicinity, amounted in the whole to 21,974 pounds with 
which the colony was at this time supplied.^ 

Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Christopher Gads- 
den, Thomas Lynch, and Edward Rutledge were now in 
attendance upon the Continental Congress at Philadel- 
phia ; William Moultrie and others in whom the public 
confidence was placed had entered the military service, 
and so were withdrawn from the direction of affairs in 
the province. Of the old leaders, Henry Laurens, Raw- 
lins Lowndes, and Charles Pinckney only were now in the 
councils which were in charge of local affairs, and the 
leadership in these was in the hands of two younger men, 
— William Henry I)ra3'ton and Artliur Middleton. Henry 
Laurens was President of the Provincial Congress and of 

^ Memoirs of the Bevohition (Drayton), vol. I, 304, .307 ; Moultrie's 
Memoirs, vol. I, 86. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 23 

the Council of Safety ; but these two were on every com- 
mittee, and were dominant in all councils, in which it 
will be seen that there was much division of opinion. 

Among the measures of the Provincial Congress, as we 
remember, was one by which non-subscribers to the Asso- 
jciation were made amenable to the General Committee, 
and by them punishable according to sound policy, under 
which ambiguous and general terms the most indefinite 
and illimitable powers were assumed to have been granted. 
Such powers could safely be intrusted to no man, nor set 
of men ; and this committee soon took occasion to exer- 
cise theirs in a cruel and despotic manner. 

There were very few Roman Catholics in South Caro- 
lina at this time, and these had no clergy ;i but notwith- 
standing the fewness of their numbers, they were enough 
in the heated imagination of the Revolutionists to afford 
something of a Guy Fawkes conspiracy against their 
government. One Michael Hubart informed the General 
Committee that upon the 2d of June, he being in the house 
of Thomas Nicoll in King Street, a certain James Dealy 
came in and told that there was good news come to town. 
Being asked what it was, he answered that a number of 
arms were sent over to be distributed amongst the negroes, 
Roman Catholics, and Indians. Upon which he had 
replied, he thought it was very bad news that Roman 
Catholics and savages should be permitted to join and 
massacre Christians. Whereupon Dealy struck his breast 
and swore " he was a Roman Catholic, and had arms and 
would use them as he pleased "; that he, Hubart, had gone 
home, where shortly after in came Dealy and a certain 
Laughlin Martin and one Reed, who cursed and abused 
him, and with a drawn cutlass in his hand threatened to 

1 Ramsay's Hist, of So. Ca., vol. IT, 37 ; Year Book; city of Charles- 
ton, 188:5 (Courtenay), 389. 



24 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

cut off his head. That Martin then dedared he was a 
Roman Catholic, and vowed to God to cut off the head of 
any person who said he should not carry arms. After 
which Martin called for some drink, and drank of it with 
Deal}^ and Reed, and one of his toasts was " Damiiation 
to the Committee and their proceedings.^^ Hubart thus 
concludes the petition he presented : — 

"Your petitioner has prosecuted them as law directs. But as the 
times appears to be very troublesome, and numbers of enemies both to 
the Protestant interest and the present cause are lurking amongst us, 
your petitioner hopes that you will inquire into such parts of the 
transaction as concerns the public, and your petitioner will ever pray." 

This absurd and ridiculous paper was referred to the 
Secret Committee, and on its back in a disguised hand, sup- 
posed to be that of William Henry Drayton, was written, 
'■'■Secret — tar and feather hini,^^ and also in a disguised hand, 
supposed to be that of Edward Weyman, was endorsed, 
'■'■Passed the Secret Committee and ordered to he put into 
execution.^'' The order was promptly complied with ; both 
the men, Martin and Dealy, were stripped of their clothes, 
tarred, feathered, and carted through the streets of the 
town. They were then sent on board a ship ready to sail 
to England, but Laughlin Martin was allowed to land 
again, and was discharged on expressing his contrition 
in a public manner; but James Dealy, for an example, was 
shipped away.^ 

1 Memoirs of the Eevolution (Drayton), vol. I, 272, 275, 300, 302. 
South Carolina was not alone in the c;lory or disgrace of this tarring and 
feathering. It was begun, it appears, in Boston by the British troops 
and a mob of Royalists in March, 1775. A flagrant case of it occurred 
ill Duchess County, New York, where a judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas was tarred and feathered for acting in contempt of the resolves of 
the County Committee. Another took place at Quibbletown, New Jersey, 
where we are told the matter "was conducted with that regularity and 
decorum that ought to be observed in all public punishments." See 



IN THE REVOLUTION 25 

Mr. Drayton, the author of the Memoirs,^ repudiates 
the usual apology for these measures in that they were 
supposed to have proceeded from the intemperate zeal 
of the populace, and willingly assumes for the Secret 
Committee the responsibility for them. There can be 
little doubt, he says, that this first commencement of so 
ludicrous and disgraceful a punishment owed its origin 
in South Carolina to this very case ; and that it was sanc- 
tioned b}'^ the Secret Committee is equally clear, as the 
case is specially noted in the manuscript of William 
Henry Drayton liis father, who was chairman of that com- 
mittee. ^ Writing from his father's minutes in the period 
immediately following the Revolution, when everything 
connected with its history was still applauded and deemed 
glorious with but little consideration as to its intrinsic 
merits, he naturally sees everything commendable in the 
action of its leaders. But he forgets that this self-ap- 
pointed power — for the members of the committee were 
themselves the leaders of the Congress under the authority 
of which they acted — represented, in fact, but a small 
part of the whole people of the province ; that the move- 
ment which they were leading had little or no support in 
the interior ; that the people of the low country were 
themselves divided in regard to it ; and that even among 
their own associates, and kith and kin, there were many, 
very many, of the noblest and best who were as much 
opposed to their authority as the poor creatures upon 
whom the committee was exhibiting its power and wreak- 



Moore's Dianj, vol. I, 44, 50, 57, 138, 178. In the recent historical novel 
Janice 3IeredUh, the author, Mr. Paul Leicester Ford, treats tarring and 
feathering as an ordinary incident of the revolutionary times. See 
pp. 115, 282, 284. 

1 Governor John Drayton, son of William Henry Drayton. 

* Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 274. 



26 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ing its vengeance ; that not a few of those who were now 
submitting to their rule were to abandon or repudiate 
the cause before the end was reached — the cause to which 
William Henry Drayton himself Avas but a recent convert. 
How could the Congress complain of the despotism of the 
King and Parliament when they themselves were seizing 
upon tlie first moment of power to inflict without trial or 
law the most degrading punishment? How could they 
expect their fellow-citizens to join them in resisting the 
right of the Iloyal government to take persons to Eng- 
land for trial in certain cases, when the first exercise of 
their power in the name of Liberty was ignominiously to 
punish without trial of any kind ? "Was the venerable 
Lieutenant Governor, who had so patiently borne with 
Mr. Drayton himself, to be liable to the same indignity 
if he did not submit to the absolute authority of these — 
to him — usurpers of government? AVas William Wragg 
to be tarred and feathered because he had resolutely stood 
by the King to whom lie believed his allegiance absolutely 
due ? because he could not desert his royal master as 
Mr. Drayton had done ? because he had not changed his 
side as Mr. Drayton had ? No ! Bull and Wragg Avere 
not to be tarred and feathered as Martin and Dealy had 
been, and as others like them were to be. Their position 
was too high for that. But these gentlemen of the Coun- 
cil of Safety and Secret Committee — their own personal 
friends and kinsmen, among them Mr. Drayton, who had 
gone into the battle for the King Avith them — Avere to 
order Mr. Wragg out of the province, and to see him on 
the ship from Avhich he Avas never to land, but from the 
Avreck of Avhicli liis dead body Avas to be Avashed on a 
foreign shore. Had Mr. Drayton forgotten how earnestly 
he had pleaded for liberty of conscience Avlien he Avas on 
the other side of the question? How indignant he AA'as 



IN THE KE VOLUTION 27 

when the Non-importation Association in 1769 had pub- 
lished his name as one who had refused to sign the agree- 
ment?^ 

The General Committee now took up the matter of the 
Association under the resolution of the Provincial Con- 
gress, directing them to summon all persons who refused 
to sign to appear before them ; and upon their refusal to 
associate or to give satisfactory reasons for their refusal, 
authorizing the committee to make such order "as they 
should think consistent ivith somid policy.''' In this ambigu- 
ous phrase was intended to be couched a power to the 
committee to which the Provincial Congress would not 
commit itself by a more explicit declaration. The mod- 
erate party, says Drayton, Avere satisfied with the wording 
of the resolution, because they would give an opening for 
extending mild conduct to non-subscribers ; while the 
others were better pleased because under due construc- 
tion whatever they might do in pursuance of the reso- 
lution would be sanctioned under the meaning of sound 
policy."^ 

In pursuance of this resolution the General Committee 
summoned the non-associators in Cliarlestown to aj^pear 
before them on the 22d of Jul}", offering each of them the 
Association for signature and demanding in every case 
reasons for refusing. Twenty-two who appeared refused 
to sign, and assigned their reasons. These were almost 
all officers of the Crown, whose official positions were suf- 
ficient answers. But among tliem was William AVragg, 
who had so stoutly and consistently maintained his loy- 
alty to the King from the very commencement of these 
troubles, when he had moved to substitute the name 
of his Majesty George III in the resolution ordering a 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. under Eoij. Gov. (McCrady), Om. 
* Memoirs of the lievolutiun (Drayton), vol. I, 313, 



28 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

statue of William Pitt. He was now equally fearless in 
his answer to the committee. He refused to sign the 
Association, he said, because of " his gratitude for the 
lionorable notice his Majesty had been pleased to take of 
him in a})pointiiig liim by his royal mandamus Chief 
Justice of the province, wliich, although he had de- 
clined, he did not consider himself the less under obli- 
gations for. And in addition thereto," he firmly added, 
because " he had a right to exercise his own judgment in 
the premises, although in doing so his sentiments might 
differ from the general voice." 

On the 27th of July the General Committee began to 
consider the reasons of the non-associators. They com- 
menced with j\lr. Wragg, whose position and standing in 
the colony, the high estimation in which he was held for 
his social virtues, and whose large and independent fortune 
rendered his case the most iniportant. They determined 
that his reasons were not satisfactory. But now what 
was to be done with him " consistent with sound jjolici/ " f 
This question was postponed to the next da}-, wlien a long 
and violent debate took place upon the subject ; but all 
that could be obtained by the moderate party was that 
Mr. Wragg should be required to take an oath that dur- 
ing this present unhappy dispute between Great Britain 
and America he would not directly or indirectly attempt 
to counteract or oppose the proceedings of the people. 
Mr. Wrao'cr, however, had weiohed the cost in his own 
mind, and determined to maintain his position; he refused 
to take the oath, and the committee declared him inimical 
to the liberties of the colonies, and ordered him into con- 
finement at his barony on the Ashley River. He was 
afterward compelled to leave the province ; and embark- 
incr on boai-d a vessel bound to Amsterdam, when near 
that port the ship was driven on the shore, and in endeav- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 29 

oring to save the life of an infant son who accompanied 
him he lost his own. A tablet in Westminster Abbey 
commemorates the loyalty and heroism of this good man, 
who gave up family, country, and fortune rather than 
swerve from his convictions of duty, though those con- 
victions were opposed to the sentiments of his nearest 
and dearest friends and kindred. When South Carolina 
is counting up her heroes of this momentous time, let her 
not ft)]"get William Wragg, who dared to differ with his 
people and to sacrifice everything for the truest of all 
libert}- — the liberty of his own conscience. 

Other persons of respectability and fortune followed 
Mr. Wragg's example, refused to take the oath, and left 
the province, leaving their fortunes to the hazards of a 
civil war, and their claims for indemnity to the liberality 
of a sovereign whose allegiance they preferred. As no 
better terms could be procured for so prominent a gentle- 
man as jNIr. Wragg, all hopes in favor of other non- 
associators failed ; and on the 31st of July all of those 
who refused to take the oath of neutrality were declared 
inimical to the liberties of the colony. The extreme 
party, flushed with success and with whetted appetite for 
the exercise of power, now proposed to take possession of 
the estates of those who had refused to associate and had 
left the colony, and to prohibit all intercourse and dealing 
with those who had refused to subscribe the Association ; 
l)ut the moderates rallied against the further stretch of this 
power, and after failing to postpone the question finally 
defeated the pro])osition. The non-associators, however, 
were ordered to surrender their arms and were confined to 
the limits of Charlestown. 

But what was to be done with Lieutenant Governor 
Bull ? Mr. Wragg was admired and revered, but Gov- 
ernor Bull was loved as well, and it would have been a 



30 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

dangerous attempt on the part of the committee to have 
tried conclusions with him. lie was quietly resting at 
Ashley Hall, and had best not be disturbed. Some of 
the members of the committee, however, were sent to him 
with a tender of tlie Association. But tlie Governor told 
them " that he wished as well to the country as any one, 
and both his heart and hand were with it." But circum- 
stanced as he had been and still was, " even you gentle- 
men," said he, " would look upon me in an odd light were 
I to subscribe an instrument of this kind." The com- 
mittee wisely forbore to press him further upon the 
subject. 

The Council of Safety itself was by no means har- 
monious. It was sharply divided into two parties, — the 
extreme and the moderate party. In these differences 
Henry Laurens, the President, does not appear to have 
taken a decided part. Indeed, he declares in tlie petition 
which he addressed to the House of Commons in Eng- 
land, when a prisoner in the Tower, that in no instance had 
he ever excited on either side the dissensions which had 
grown up between Great Britain and the colonies — that 
he had labored for peace. The principal business at this 
time was carried on by William Henry Drayton, Arthur 
Middleton, Colonel Charles Pinckney, and Thomas Fergu- 
son, who promoted every vigorous plan, while Rawlins 
Lowndes, James Parsons, Miles Brewton, Thomas Hey- 
ward, Jr., and Thomas Bee were generally for moderate 
measures, and John Huger, Benjamin Elliott, and William 
Williamson took part with one or the other party as in 
their judgment was best. William Henry Drayton and 
Arthur Middleton were the leaders in all extreme meas- 
ures, and Rawlins Lowndes was their chief opponent. The 
subject upon which the difference in the sentiments and 
purposes of the members of the committee discovered itself 



IN THE REVOLUTION 31 

was that of placing Charlestown and the harbor in a con- 
dition of defence, Arthur Middleton was always urging 
the matter in the Council. Drayton and himself were 
now for the war they deemed inevitable, and from which 
they did not shrink. Rawlins Lowndes, Brewton, Hey- 
ward, and Bee would not allow themselves to believe it 
possible that they should be engaged in a war with the 
mother country to which they were so much attached. 
Arthur Middleton was particularly impatient with Raw- 
lins Lowndes, whom he regarded as the principal obstacle 
in the way of vigorous measures. ^ He was for attaching 
the estates of those who left the colony ; but in the ab- 
sence of Drayton he could not get even a second to this 
proposition. " The matter," however, he writes to Dray- 
ton, then on a mission in the upper country, " is not 
rejected^ only postponed. RawJinus PosijJonator declares 
the Resolution not proper to proceed from the committee 
of South Carolina, and so arbitrary that nothing but the 
Divan of Constantinople could think of promulgating 
such a law." 2 Again he wrote to Drayton, telling of the 
flight of Dr. JNIilligan, " Probably he had an unconquer- 
able dislike to the mode of clothing lately adojDted in 
these scarce times, and by no means wishes to be exalted^ 
in this damned hot country, but would rather have a high 
place in Scotland." The extremists were uneasy about 
Colonel Charles Pinckne}^ who had been acting with 
them.* Mr. Timothy, the Clerk of the Council of Safety 
and publisher of the Gazette, writes, however, on the 22d 
of August to Mr. Drayton encouragingly, " Pinckney does 

^ Memoirs of the lievolution (Drayton), vol. I, 318. 
2/^iJ., vol. II, 18. 

3 Tlie tiTin ''exalted" was at tliis time u-sed for hanging or exposing 
a person tarred and feathered in a court. 

* Memoirs of the JRevolution (Drayton), vol. II, 22. 



32 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

not retreat — he comes forward bravely," but he adds, "I 
wish you and Mr. Tennent were alongside of him at tliis 
table." Then he goes on to give an account of the politi- 
cal condition upon the approach of another election for a 
Pi-ovincial Congress : — 

" This week will be spent in matters relative to our election. The 
merchants (say gentlemen concerned in trade) at a meeting to-day 
either have or will nominate ten of their body to represent tliem in 
the ensuing Congress. At a previous meeting they proposed fifteen 
for their quota — then twelve — and at last condescended to be con- 
tent with ten. The Germans have taken the alarm and had a meet- 
ing. And the mechanics are not thoroughly pleased ; they also will 
have a meeting this week. In regard to war and peace — I can only 
tell you the plebeians are still for war ; but the noblesse perfectly 
pacific." ^ 

Was Mr. Drayton pleased when he received this letter 
to know that the plebeians were Avith him? or did he recol- 
lect his letter of the 16th of September, 1761, when he had 
upbraided Mr. Gadsden for counselling with illiterate and 
common men ? ^ 

1 Memoirs nf the Bevolution (Drayton), vol. II, 24, 25. 
^ Hist, of So. Ca. under Roy. Gov. (McCrady), 654. 



CHAPTER II 

1775 

It will be recollected that the early German settlers 
had pushed into the interior and occupied the territory 
formed into the townships of Oi-angeburgh and Saxe-Gotha, 
and then extending farther and following the Congaree 
had crossed into the fork of the Broad and Saluda rivers ; 
and that these first settlers had been considerably aug- 
mented by another German emigration in 1764, which 
last had been greatly assisted by the English government 
and public-spirited citizens in London. In Jul3% 1775, it 
was ascertained that these people were not at all inclined 
to join this movement on the coast against the govern- 
ment of Great Britain. 

Their opposition was both negative and positive. They 
had no appreciation whatsoever of the mere theoretical 
questions of abstract right in the matter of taxation 
and representation. They knew little and cared less 
about the old struggles in England over the church, 
and taxation, and ship money. The government they 
were living under was a good enough government for 
them. It gave them far greater freedom than they had 
been accustomed to. They had not needed any stamps 
— if for no other reason — because the government on 
the coast had not been able to give them courts in 
which the stamps were to be used ; they were not en- 
gaged in commerce, so the stamps had not worried them 
in that way. Then as to the tea : they did not use 
it, and did not see why they should go to war abotit a 
VOL. in. — D 33 



34 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

matter which did not j)ractically concern them. And 
with what grace, they asked, could the people on the 
coast appeal to them to join in a war against taxation 
without representation in the Parliament in England, 
when, though they had asked and petitioned for it, they 
were without representation in the Commons House of 
Assembly here in Carolina ? Had they not been asking 
for the extension of the parishes in their section of the 
province so that they might have representation in the 
Colonial Assembly whicli taxed them in a way which they 
felt directly : and had they obtained it ? Had they not 
been called rioters, and had not the Charlestown militia 
turned out ready to march against them because they had 
proposed to come down to the parishes and vote, as the 
government would not give them parishes of their own ? 
Then, on the other hand, had not the English government 
helped them to come to this country and even given a 
bounty to those who had last come ? And did they not 
hold their lands by grants of George the Third ? and was 
he not Elector of Hanover as well as King of England, 
and thus to many of them doubly their sovereign ? 

To conciliate these people it was thought expedient to 
send some of their own countrymen from Charlestown to 
reason with them. George Wagner and Felix Long 
undertook the mission, but accomplished nothing. 

It was now ascertained that the disaffection extended 
much farther back into the interior and was particularly 
strong in the fork of tlie Saluda and Broad rivers, where 
the German element coming up from the coast had met 
the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians coming down by way of the 
foot of tlie mountains. They too had been Avithout repre- 
sentatives in the Colonial Assembly, and had few in the 
Provincial Congress which now had assumed to over- 
throw one government and set up another over them. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 35 

They had been too short a time in the province to assimi- 
late with the people on this coast ; apd they had particu- 
larly felt the weakness of the government here to protect 
them, or to provide them with courts. They had been 
compelled to set up a government of Regulators against 
the thieves and robbers that infested this part of the 
province. When they had asked for courts the gentle- 
men on the coasts liad told them they would provide them 
as soon as the King would agree to allow the judges to 
hold during their good behavior, but not until then. In 
the meanwhile they had been suffering. It is true the 
gentlemen on the coast had given up the point at last, 
but the courts which had been held had been devoted 
more to political harangues and stirring up opposition to 
the King than to the punishment of criminals and the 
administration of justice. They, too, like the Germans, 
had had no use for either stamps or tea and took little 
interest in a dispute which from their distance appeared 
to be only a struggle for political power. Then unfortu- 
nately a committee of surveillance in Augusta, Georgia, 
not to be outdone by their compatriots in Charlestown, had 
taken to tarring and feathering, and had not only been 
more unwise in the selection of a victim, but besides 
treating tlie victim so ignominiously had punished him 
most cruelly. 

Thomas Browne, a Scotchman, had indulged himself in 
indiscreet censure of the Revolutionary party. He had 
done worse — he had ridiculed them. Apprised of the 
resentment his conduct had excited, he attempted to 
escape, but, closely pursued, he was brought back to 
Augusta, and tried before the committee, was sentenced 
to be tarred, feathered, and carted unless he recanted 
and took the oath of allegiance to the new government. 
Browne was a firm man and resisted with a courage which 



36 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

should have commanded the respect of liis persecutors. 
But the spirit of the mob was aroused, and after under- 
going the painful and mortifying penance prescribed by 
the committee without yielding, says the author of the 
Life of Greene, he was doomed to have his naked feet 
exposed to a large fire to subdue his stubborn spirit. 
But in vain, and he was at length turned loose by his 
tormentors, who were surprised wlien the simple Indian 
trader reappeared an armed, vindictive, and implacable 
enemy. Embittered by his treatment, Browne became a 
most malignant foe to the cause, and fearfully did he 
take his revenge. He was now active among these people 
in rousing them to opposition. Later he entered the royal 
service and raised and commanded as lieutenant colonel a 
corps of Royalists called the King's Rangers, and was 
known during the war as an active and sanguinary parti- 
san officer.^ 

Thomas Fletchall, residing in Fair Forest in what is 
now Union County, was colonel of the regiment of mili- 
tia, which gave him great influence in that part of the 
country. His conduct of late had been such as to give 
great uneasiness to the Council of Safety. They deter- 
mined, therefore, if it were possible, to induce him to join 
the cause or to make known his sentiments. A letter was 



1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 289, 290 ; Curwin's Journal and 
Letters, 1775-84, 625. The treatment of Browne was disgraceful enough 
to the Southern Whigs, but in the infliction of this outrage upon 
him the Georgia mob was but following the example of the Northern 
Wiiigs ; and the statement in the account of the battle of Eutaw Springs 
in the United Service Magazine, September, 1881, p. .318, by Major- 
General I. Watts De Peyster, that Browne was not only roughly handled 
by a Whig mob, '• but actually flogged almost to death, as only a South- 
ern mob — so prone to whipphig their own negroes — can flog when their 
jiassions are aroused," is an exaggeration, and an addition to the story 
for which there is no authority. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 37 

accordingly written to him, to which he replied complain- 
ing of the malicious reports in regard to him, which he 
declared to be false, lie had called the regiment together, 
he said, on the 13th of July, when he had caused the Pro- 
vincial Association to be read to each company, but that 
no one of them had signed it. The peojjle had agreed 
to sign an association of their own and that one had been 
drawn up which had been very generally signed from the 
Broad to the Savannah River — that is, through all the 
country now the counties of Union, Newberry, Laurens, 
Abbeville, and Edgefield. He expressed his concern that 
he was looked upon as an enemy to his country, and 
wished the government might have no greater cause to 
complain of his conduct than of some who were little 
suspected. But on the main subject he emphatically 
declared that he utterly refused to take up arms against 
his King, until it became his duty to do so.^ 

In consequence of the information that Stuart, the 
Indian agent, was tampering with the Indians, jNIajor 
Mayson with two troops of Rangers commanded by Cap- 
tain John Caldwell and our old acquaintance, Moses Kirk- 
land, who had accepted a commission from the Provincial 
Congress, had occupied Fort Charlotte on the Savannah 
River. Leaving Captain Caldwell to garrison the fort 
with his troops, Major Mayson with Kirkland's troop 
returned to Ninety-Six Court House, bringing with him a 
small supply of powder and lead taken from this fort. 
Colonel Fletchall was at this time holding a general 
muster of his regiment at Fords on the Enoree River. 
Kirkland, who thought himself overlooked by the Provin- 
cial Congress in their military appointment, and Avho also 
had a grudge against Major Ma3^son, his rival for military 
rank and influence in that section, knowing that Colonel 
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 311, 313. 



38 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Fletchall had assembled a number of men, and believing 
the whole upper country disaffected to the revolutionary 
cause, resolved to change sides, and sent a message to 
Colonel Fletchall suggesting to him to take steps to 
recover the powder and lead which had been taken from the 
King's fort and was then at Ninety-Six, assuring Fletchall 
that the force sent to retake the ammunition should not 
be opposed. Fletchall declined to appear publicly in the 
affair, but Major Robinson, of Col. Neel's regiment, and 
Robert and Patrick Cuningham,^ with two hundred men 
on horseback, set out for Kiuety-Six, and, on arriving 
there, had little trouble in possessing themselves of the 
ammunition ; Kirkland with his own company thereupon 
not only deserted Major Maysim, but carried off with 
them Captain Folk's company of the same regiment. 
Kirkland now openly joined Fletchall, whose regiment, 
as it then was, to a man refused to sign the Association, 
and going to the other extreme generally subscribed one 
drawn up by Major Robinson in favor of the King. 
The number of men at Fletcliairs muster field amounted, 

1 The family of Cuninghams (or Cuninghames) was from Scotland, 
where they had taken a determined part during the struggles there for 
religious freedom. The ancestors of the Cuninghams of South Carolina 
about the year 1681 came over to America and settled in Virginia. In 
January, 1769, Robert and Patrick, the two eldest sons of John, who was 
settled in Augusta, Virginia, removed to Xinety-Six District in South 
Carolina. Robert settled at Island Ford on the Saluda River, and was 
one of the first magistrates in that District. Patrick the same year was 
made a Deputy Surveyor General of South Carolina, under Sir Egerton 
Leigh, Surveyor General. 

The Cuninghams were not altogether opposed to the principles of the 
Revolution. They did not think that the English government ought to 
be permitted to impose taxes on the colonies without their concurrence, 
but they thought that the people would gain but little if they escaped the 
injustice of the British Parliament only to subject themselves to what 
they regarded as an odious tyranny of an arbiti'ary faction at home. 
Curwin's Journal and Letters^ 1775-84, 618-623. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 39 

it was said, to fifteen hundred at least. The disaffec- 
tion of the people increased, and from the Broad to the 
Savannah Kiver tliey generally came out against the 
Congress and for the King. The millions of dollars 
voted by the Provincial Congress was an endless theme of 
harangue. Congress would ruin them, and the paper 
money was cried down as of no value. But above all, 
their spirits were kept up by correspondence which they 
had opened with Lord William Campbell, who, through 
Colonel Fletchall, commended the loyalty of Robinson and 
the Cuninghams. This correspondence with the Royal 
Governor gave these men great consequence among the 
disaffected, tied them fast to the Royal interests, and pre- 
sented an opportunity of advancement to every leader of 
the party. ^ Indeed, it is probable that had Lord William 
Campbell at tliis time boldly gone up among the people 
of this section, had thrown himself upon Fletchall, col- 
lected his men around him, and acted with promptness 
and efficiency, the whole proceedings of the Provincial 
Congress would have been overthrown. 

The Revolutionary party was, in fact, in a most un- 
happy condition. The leaders, the Council of Safety, 
and delegates to the Continental Congress were divided 
amongst themselves as to the nature of the Revolution 
in which they were involved, and the extent to which 
they would carry it. The two influential classes in 
Charlestown — the merchants and planters — were op- 
})osed to the war. Divided thus on tlie coast, the whole 
upper country between the Broad and the Savannah was 
in open oi)position to them, while between the Broad and 
the Catawba the people had taken no part in the move- 
ment — indeed, they had not been consulted in regard to 
it and were silent. Tliere was but one party in South 
^Memoirs of the BevohUion (Drayton), vol. I, 321, 323. 



40 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Carolina which was heart and soul in the cause, and tJiat 
was the old Liberty Tree Party under Christopher Gads- 
den, now in his absence, wliile he was attending the Con- 
tinental Congress, led by William Henry Drayton, his 
old adversary, and Arthur Middleton. The men who 
had marched with " Forty-five " lights from the Lib- 
erty Tree to Mr. Dillon's tavern in 1768, and toasted 
the "glorious Ninety-two Ante-Rescinders of Massachu- 
setts Bay " ; the men who had made the Assembly send 
the £1500 sterling to Wilkes; the men who had domi- 
nated the town in the time of the non-importation agree- 
ment in 1769 through the General Committee, were still 
pushing on the ball of Revolution ; but as Arthur Mid- 
dleton wrote to Drayton, they were the common people 
and not the class to which he and Drayton belonged ; 
they were indeed the very men whose interference in 
public matters Drayton had so vehemently denounced. 
Had Lord William grasped the situation and appealed 
openly and boldly to the upper country, there is little 
reason to doubt but that the merchants in Charlestown 
and the planters on the coast would have risen with them 
and have overthrown the Council of Safety and their 
government. For wiser purposes however, says one, 
Providence had not so directed his actions, but left him 
in Charlestown to experience the daily loss of his execu- 
tive powers and the little consideration in which he was 
holden as well by the public authorities as by the citizens 
at large. 

Accounts of Lord William's plots and the critical 
condition of affairs in the up country daily coming to 
Charlestown, it was proposed in the Council of Safety 
to send a commission into the interior to reconcile the 
people there if possible to tlieir measures ; but this at 
first was opposed. On the 23d of July, it was resolved 



IN THE REVOLUTION 41 

to send the Honorable William Henry Drayton and the 
Rev. William Tennent to explain to the people there the 
cause of the disputes between Great Britain and the Ameri- 
can colonies, to endeavor to settle all political differences, 
and to quiet their minds. They were given authority to 
call upon the militia for assistance, suj^port, and protec- 
tion, and with the usual studied ambiguity of the times 
"to act as you shall deem necessary." Colonel Richard 
Richardson, Joseph Kershaw, and the Rev. Oliver Hart 
were desired to accompany theni.i 

The commissioners proceeding by the way of Monck's 
Corner arrived at the Congaree Store in the Dutch settle- 
ment of Saxe-Gotha — now Lexington County — on the 
5th of August, in the vicinity of which a part of the Rangers 
were encamped. As a first step the commissioners dis- 
patched notices to persons of influence among the peo- 
ple in the neighborhood for the purpose of procuring a 
meeting of the inhabitants. Not one German, however, 
appeared at the time appointed and only one or two 
friends of the Association who had endeavored to get up 
the meeting. The Germans could not appreciate the 
refinement that in taking up arms they were warring 
against the Ministry, and not against the King, and they 
believed that if they did the King would annul the grants 
of land he had given them ; they were possessed with the 
idea too that the Rangers were posted among them for 
the purpose of awing them into submission and forcing 
them to sign the Association ; and could not by any argu- 
ment be induced to approach the commissioners. Colonel 
Tliomson, who commanded the Orangeburgh Regiment of 
Militia in addition to his command of the Rangers, endeav- 
ored to assist the commissioners through the German cap- 
tains, but these flatly disobeyed Ins orders to muster their 
1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, o24. 



42 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

men, alleging that extra musters were warranted only by 
order from the Governor. The services of a Lutheran 
clergyman were then engaged to gather congregations, but 
with little success. 1 Then tlieir pecuniary interest was 
appealed to, and they were informed that no non-sub- 
scribers in the settlement would be allowed to purchase 
or sell at the Congaree Store or in Charlestown. But in 
vain ; these people would have nothing to do with the 
movement. 

Another and greater danger was now exposed. Two 
companies of the Rangers had already, as we have seen, 
deserted and gone over to Colonel Fletchall ; and now a 
mutiny broke out in three of the seven remaining com- 
panies of the regiment in the very presence of the com- 
missioners. Captain Woodward had incautiously, Avhile 
enlisting his men, promised provisions above their pay, 
and not receiving them the men announced their determi- 
nation to quit the camp in the morning and disband. This 
matter was, however, quieted ; and in order to allay the 
excitement of the people and to conciliate the Rangers 
themselves, the camp was broken up and they were allowed 
to return to their homes for a limited time to vote for 
congressmen. 2 

The commissioners now determined to separate, that 
Mr. Drayton should go up between the Broad and Saluda 
rivers, while Mr. Tennent should proceed on the east side 
of the Broad, between that and the Catawba. 

Mr. Drayton accompanied by Mr. Kershaw crossed the 

1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 325-320. Who this 
clergyman was is not mentioned, but it was probably the Rev. Christian 
Theus, who officiated in Saxe-Gotha at that time and for many years 
thereafter. Histortj of OraiKjehury Cuitnty, ,S.C., 1704-17SJ (Salley), 
pp. 74, 80-83, 8o-87. 

2 Memoirs of the licrolution (Drayton), vol. I, 327-330. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 43 

Saluda, and entered the Dutch Fork ; but he found the 
Germans on the north side of the Saluda no better dis- 
posed toward the cause than those in Orangeburgh and 
Saxe-Gotha. He addressed a meeting at McLaurin's Store, 
but no argument could persuade them ; not one sub- 
scriber to the Association was procured. John Adam 
Summer, who was a man of large influence in this region 
and who had signed the Association in Charlestown, proved 
himself a false brother, and with Mr. Neuffer and McLau- 
rin discouraged the movement. INlr. Drayton and Mr. 
Kershaw came to the conclusion that an attempt at that 
time to shake their opinions or remove their scruples 
would be useless against the influences which evidently 
held them in check ; in a letter to the Council of Safety of 
the 16th of August Mr. Drayton wrote, " We made the 
best of our way from this stiff-necked generation." 

On the 15th of August iMr. Drayton addressed a large 
gathering at King's Creek on the lower part of the Enoree 
River. His address was received with apparent satisfac- 
tion, and Mr. Drayton had begun to hope that he would 
procure an accession to the Association there, when it was 
announced that Robert Cuningham was at hand. This 
brought everything to a pause ; the multitude now took up 
the idea of having the subject argued on both sides, and 
the commissioner found himself unexpectedly engaged in 
a public disputation. Cuningham was invited to dine 
with the commissioners, Mr. Drayton endeavoring to use 
the social intercourse of the table to influence him ; but 
in vain. Browne, who had been tarred and feathered, now 
also appeared upon the scene and read to the assembly 
Dalrymple's address from the people of England to the 
people of America, which had been received from Lord 
Campbell. Mr. Drayton replied to Cuningham and 
P)rowne, and thought that he had got the best of the 



44 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

debate ; but as far as we are informed he had not pro- 
cured a signature to the Association. 

On Thursday the 17th of August, Mr. Drayton and Mr. 
Kershaw arrived at Colonel FletcliaH's residence at Fair 
Forest, where they found Browne, Cuningham, and Rob- 
inson, who had preceded them, arriving the evening before, 
as had also Mr. Tennent and Colonel Richardson from the 
Catawba. The heads of parties, as they then stood, for 
the first time had now all met together. Mr. Tennent, in 
his letter to the Coancil of Safety of the 20th of August, 
says: " We have at length visited the great and mighty 
nabob, Fletchall. We found him surrounded by his Court, 
viz. : Cuningham, Browne, and Robinson, who watch all 
his motions and have him under great command. We 
found the unchangeable malignity of their minds, and 
the inexpressible pains they were at to blind the people, 
and fill them with the bitterness against the Gentlemen as 
they are called. Gen. Gage's pamphlet is raging through 
the District and greedily read." 

Mr. Drayton writes: "I reached Col. Fletchall's last 
Thursday morning before breakfast, and Mr. Tennent and 
myself after breakfast engaged him in a private conversa- 
tion during near three hours. We endeavored to explain 
everything to him. We pressed them upon him and 
endeavored to show him that we had confidence in him. 
We humored him. We laughed with him. Then we 
recurred to argument, remonstrances, and entreaties to 
join his country and all America. All that we could get 
from him was this : ^ He would never take up arms ar/ainst 
his King or his countrymen and that the proceedings of the 
Congress at Philadelphia were impolitic, disrespectful, and 
irritating to the King.' " ^ Robinson announced that he had 
a commission to raise men for the King. His looks, wrote 
1 Memoirs of the Bcvolution (Drayton), vol. I, 361, 372. 



IN TIIK REVOLUTION 45 

Drayton, are utterly against him ; and there was much 
venom in Cuningham's countenance, but neither Robinson 
nor Cuningham said much. Browne was the spokesman, 
and his bitterness and violence were intolerable. Mr. 
Drayton complains much of his insolent conduct ; but one 
can scarcely suppress a smile when he reads in Mr. 
Drayton's account that Browne went so far in his efforts to 
provoke him to violence as to tell him he believed that 
Drayton and his party did not mean well to the King and 
that their professions were nothing but a cloak. At this 
provocation, says Drayton, " he almost lost his caution ; 
but thank God he did not even appear to do so, but in a 
very firm tone severely checked Browne whom the colonel 
bid to go to bed."' Mr. Drayton might have been very 
earnest in his indignation that he, who until very recently 
had been a King's councillor, and held the King's commis- 
sion as Judge, should be charged with being hostile to 
his INIajesty ; and yet in this very letter, he had just 
complained of Colonel Fletchall because he declared " he 
would never take up arms against his King." The nice 
distinction between the King's ministers and the King 
which pervaded all the revolutionary documents up to 
the Declaration of Independence was too nice for the 
frontiersmen, who could not regard this organization 
called the " Association," which these gentlemen were 
going through the country endeavoring to induce men to 
join, in any other light than hostile to the Royal govern- 
ment. Mr. Draytoii wrote that it was his firm belief that 
l)rowne, Cuningham, and Robinson would do all in their 
power to bring things to extremities ; for they believed 
that they could beat the whole colony ; and that they 
managed Fletchall as tliey pleased. 

After some further efforts to obtain a hearing, the com- 
missioners turned their backs on Colonel Fletchall and his 



46 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

party and proceeded to the Savannah River on their way 
to Ninety-Six Court House, and then passed on to the Ham- 
monds' residence, Snow Hill, nearly opposite to Augusta. 
The commissioners there addressed a numerous meeting ; 
and Mr. Tennent then went on a progress into the Long 
Cane Settlement, while INIr. Drayton turned his attention 
to the people of Augusta and that neighborhood. But he 
was soon checked in this move.^ 

Kirkland, after deserting Major ]\Iayson, had gone to 
Charlestown to the Governor, and though the commis- 
sioners issued orders for his arrest on his return, and 
advised the Council of Safety of his approach that they 
might arrest liim, he escaped both the Council and com- 
missioners and had now returned with his Excellency's 
commissions, and offers of encouragement to all the loyal- 
ists in the upper part of the colony. B}^ various accounts 
which Mr. Drayton received on the 29th of August, it 
was ascertained that Kirkland had actually taken up arms 
for the purpose of attacking Fort Charlotte and Augusta, 
and that the King's men, as they were called, were to meet 
on the 29th at a place about twenty miles above Snow Hill. 
This put an end to the progress, and Mr. Drayton sent an 
express to Mr. Tennent causing him to retrace his steps 
down the Savannah. 

In this situation of affairs, j\Ir. Drayton assumed dicta- 
torial powers. He ordered JNIajor AVilliamson to march 
with three hundred men to Harden's Ford on the Savan- 
nah River, about thirty miles above Snow Hill ; Colonel 
Thomson with his Rangers, and as near three hundred 
militia as he could get, to take post at the Ridge ; and 
Colonel Richardson with three hundred men to take post 
near the mouth of the Enoree. He wrote informing the 
Council of Safety that if Kirkland's party should take the 
^ Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 379. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 47 

field he should feel himself authorized to proceed to every 
extremity to suppress all who opposed the authority of 
Congress. He then issued a proclamation or " Declara- 
tion," as he termed it, warning all persons against Kirk- 
land. This prompt action on the part of Mr. Drayton 
confounded Kirkland and paralyzed his exertions. He 
dispatched his brother to Mr. Drayton with offers of sur- 
render on promise of pardon ; but Mr. Drayton demanded 
his surrender at discretion. Kirkland's courage failing 
him, he lurked about for some days, after which, with two 
trusty friends, he fled in disguise to Charlestown, from 
wlience he was privatel}' sent on board the sloop of war 
Tainar, by the directions of the Governor. 

But, notwithstanding Kirkland's flight, his principal 
coadjutors, Cuningham and Browne, proceeded in collect- 
ing men and were soon joined by Colonel Fletchall. Mr. 
Drayton thereupon with one hundred and twenty-four 
men marched from Ninety-Six Court House, where, being 
joined by others, he had a force in all of two hundred and 
twenty-four. 

Upon consultation with Major Mayson, Major William- 
son, and Captain Hammond, Mr. Drayton determined to 
march at once upon Colonel Fletchall's force and surprise 
it on its march. Colonel Fletchall, however, did not 
appear, and ]Mr. Drayton being reenforced by a consider- 
able number of Major Williamson's regiment of militia, 
formed a camp about three-quarters of a mile in advance 
of Ninety-Six Court House. Fletchall moved his to within 
four miles of the Saluda River, so that the opposing par- 
ties were within ten miles of each other, with that river 
between them. At this time Fletchall's force amounted to 
upwards of twelve hundred, while Mr. Drayton's hardly 
reached a thousand. Mr. Drayton now had resort to 
another proclamation or declaration which, though not so 



48 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

effective as that against Kirkland, brought into the camp 
Colonel Fletchall and others of his leaders, who came, 
they claimed, with full power to treat and conclude terms 
of pacification.^ 

This embassy on the part of Colonel Fletchall and his 
followers was most opportune to Mr. Drayton, for great 
was the consternation on the part of the Council of Safety 
in Charlestown at the vigorous measures which he had 
adopted. It is true that upon the alarm from Georgia 
that Kirkland was going against Augusta the Council had 
written him on the 11th of August "that on such an occa- 
sion they were perfectly satisfied he would leave nothing- 
undone, that should appear to he necessary.''^ And it was 
partly on this implied authority and partly on his own 
responsibility that he had collected his force ; but now 
had come a letter of the 31st blowing hot and cold — or, 
rather, the reverse, cold and hot, clearly indicating the 
divided councils in the Board and upon what weak au- 
thority his own was based. This letter stated " that they 
viewed with horror the spectacle of a civil Avar, and were 
not ashamed to own that they could not hastily determine 
upon measures which at first sight may promise to avert 
the calamity, but which for aught they knew, might rush 
them upon the very danger they would wish to avoid. 
If," said they, " the removal of twelve active, mischievous 
men will really quash the growing opposition, that work 
may easily be accomplished ; but may not our enemy prove 
an hydra, and start twice as many lieads to bring on them 
four thousand adherents with fury to rescue their first 
leaders or to revenge their cause ? " With the weakness 
of a body composed of men holding widely divergent 
views, without a master mind among them, the Council 
shrank alike from withholding the authority they feared 
1 Memoirs of the Eevolution (Drayton), vol. I, 380-396. 



IN THE REVOLIJTIOX 49 

to give — and from giving it. They went on, therefore, 
to say that all things being considered, however, — 

"From that confidence which they reposed in his wisdom and pru- 
dence as well as from their certainty of his zeal for the welfare of the 
colony — assuring themselves also that he would premeditate every 
important step and weigh probable consequences — they resolved not 
only to rest in him, as they thereby did, all the powers and authorities 
which were contained in their commissions to him and the Rev. Mr. 
Tennent jointly; but also, to enlarge those powers, by authorizing 
him to put a stop to the proceedings of such evil-minded persons, be 
they who they may, as are or shall be known to be active in creating 
divisions among the people in order to disturb and destroy that har- 
mony and unanimity which is essential to the cause of liberty and 
America at this critical juncture; and for more effectually enabling 
him to accomplish that good and desirable end, he was thereby re- 
quired and empowered to take every decisive step and to use every 
vigorous measure which he may or shall deem proper to promote the 
public service. For which that should be his warrant." 

But when the Council heard that Mr. Drayton had 
taken them at their word and, acting on their warrant, 
was embodying troops against Kirkland on the 5th of 
September, and that the crisis had arrived which required 
energy, they wrote to him "to discharge the militia as 
soon as he could possibly do it with safety ; as such 
additional expense would be very heavy." ^ 

Under these doubtful and contradictory instructions 
^Ir. Drayton's position was embarrassing enough ; but to 
add to the uncertainty of his authority, he -had learned 
from his confidential friend, Mr. Arthur Middleton, the 
anxiety and divisions in the Council in regard to them. 
Mr. Middleton kept him informed of the debates which 
took place at the Board, and wrote that the power granted 
him on the 31st of August had onl}^ been carried in a 
Council having a bare quorum present, by a vote of but 
1 Memoirs of the Ecvolution (Drayton), vol. I, 396, 399. 

VOL. III. — E 



50 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

four to three ; that tlie three in the minority expatiated 
upon the "danger of creating a civil war — young man — 
hot — rash — may raise the people and set them to cutting 
one another's throats — decisive steps and vigorous meas- 
ures meant too much." Moreover, J\Ir. Middleton in- 
formed Mr. Drayton that two of the affirmatives were 
on the point of retracting. From this it was clear that 
Mr. Drayton could rely for support really but upon one 
other member of the Council besides Mr. Middleton him- 
self. Well, therefore, did Mr. Middleton wish him to act 
with vigor for the public good ; but for his own sake with 
caution; and advise him "to hurry down, as the Council 
were doing nothing but repairing two or three bastions to 
amuse the people." 

Considering these things, considering that his powers, 
questionable as they were, had been given by but four 
out of a body of thirteen, and that by a bare majority of 
those present — two of whom had repented almost as soon 
as they had consented — considering that any check to 
his inferior force, who were strangers alike to him and 
to each other — a part of whom were but recent!}^ dis- 
affected — would be of the most dangerous consequences, 
and that any evil which might ensue would be attributed, 
as Mr. Middleton had suggested, to his "youth," "heat," 
and "rashness," Mr. Drayton hailed with satisfaction, 
on his own account, the overtures of Colonel Fletchall 
and his part}'; while, on the other hand, he perceived 
what great advantages there would be gained to the 
cause if he could obtain such terms of pacification as 
would create disunion among the chiefs of the opposition. 
Mr. Drayton, thus released from his embarrassing posi- 
tion, met Colonel Fletchall and the other leaders, and 
upon a conference they concluded a treaty between the 
parties, which was signed on the IGth of September, 1775, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 51 

l)y Mr. Drayton of the one part ; and by Thomas Fletchall, 
John Ford, Thomas (jreen, Evan McLaurin, and Benjamin 
Wofford of the other, AVilliam Thomson, Ely Kershaw, 
and Francis Salvador witnessing the treaty. 

By this treaty. Colonel Fletchall and his party claiming 
to be deputies on the part of the people living between 
the Broad and Saluda rivers and other adjacent parts, 
declared (1) that the declining of the part of the people 
aforesaid to accede to the Association did not proceed from 
any ill or even unfriendly principle or design against the 
})rinciples or designs of the Congress of this colony or 
authorities derived from that body, but only from a 
desire to abide in their usual peace and tranquillity ; 

(2) that the said part of the people never did mean to 
assist or join the British troops, and they declared that 
they would not give, yield, or afford directly or indirectly 
any aid or assistance whatsoever to the British troops or 
hold any communication or correspondence with them ; 

(3) they agreed to • deliver up to the authority of the 
Congress upon requisition any person who should reflect 
upon, censure, or condemn or oppose the proceedings of 
the Congress of the colony, to be questioned and tried 
according to the mode authorized by the Congress. (4) On 
the other hand the Council of Safety or the General Com- 
mittee agreed to punish any j^erson who having signed the 
Association molested any of them who had not. 

It was further agreed and declared that all persons not 
offending against this treaty should be allowed to con- 
tinue to dwell and remain at home as usual safe in their 
lives, persons, and properties ; but that all such as would 
not consider themselves bound by the treaty should abide 
by the consequences.^ 

If Colonel Fletchall and the others who joined in this 
1 Memoirs of the lievolution (Drayton), vol. I, 399, 406. 



r)2 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

treaty on their side had had any authority to make it, Mr. 
Drayton would have gained the most material advantages 
to the party he represented ; but they had no such author- 
ity, and the treaty was instantly repudiated by Robert 
Cuningham and other principal men of that side. They 
disclaimed the pacification in great wrath, and Cuning- 
ham refused to disband his men. Mr. Drayton believed 
that the treaty would at least cause fresh discussion 
among their leaders and would also excite doubt and 
suspicion in the minds of the British authorities both 
at home and in England as to the sincerity of these back- 
woodsmen in their loyalty to the King. It is doubtful 
if it accomplished much in either of these directions ; but 
it had rescued himself from a most dangerous position and 
allowed him to retire with honor to the Board in town, 
whose divided counsels now needed much his strong will 
and energy to assist Arthur Middleton in the prosecution 
of vigorous measures there. 



CHAPTER III 

1775 

The middle of September, 1775, says Mr. Drayton in 
liis memoirs, was an eventful era in the revolutionary his- 
tory of South Carolina, for on the 15tli day of that month 
the provincial troops by order of the Council of Safety 
took possession of Fort Johnson commanding the entrance 
of Charlestown harbor ; the Commons House of Assembly 
was dissolved by the proclamation of Governor Campbell • 
his Excellency, alarmed for his own personal safety, left 
Charlestown and took refuge on board the sloop of war 
Tamnr^ then lying in the roads, and on the 16th of the 
sauie month the treaty of pacification was interchangeably 
signed at the camp near Ninety-Six Court House. ^ 

The last official act of Lieutenant Governor Bull, it 
may be recollected, was the prorogation of the General 
Assembly to the 19th of June.^ Lord William Campbell, 
on his arrival on the 18th, not being prepared to commu- 
nicate with the Assembly so soon after his arrival, and 
for the convenience of the members, at the instance of 
Mr. Lowndes, the Speaker, further prorogued it to Mon- 
day the 10th of July ; and on this day the General Assem- 
bly met, and without the usual formalities the Commons 
were immediately summoned to attend his Excellency in 
the Council chamber, where he delivered them his speech. 
He stated that his Majesty's instructions, his own incli- 
nations, and the critical situation of the province had 

^ Memoirs of the American Bevnhition (Drayton), vol. II, 3. 
2 Hi>!t. of So. Car. under Itoy. Gov. (McCrady), 791. 
53 



54 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

induced him to meet them in General Assembly, as soon 
as was consistent with that attention necessary to be paid 
to their own private affairs at this season. He had flat- 
tered himself that, with their assistance and advice, he 
should have been able to prosecute such schemes and 
concur in such measures as would have contributed to 
increase that prosperity to which he saw the colony so 
rapidly advancing when he was last in the province. 
Filled with these sentiments and elated by these hopes, 
it was not easy to conceive his grief and disappointment 
at finding the province in such a distracted state : the 
legal administration of justice obstructed — government 
in a manner annihilated — the most dangerous measures 
adopted — and acts of the most outrageous and illegal 
nature publicly committed with impunity. It was not 
his duty or inclination to enter into a discussion of the 
disputes that, unhappily, subsisted between Great Britain 
and her colonies in America; but he thought himself 
bound to warn the members of the House that if they 
apprehended that the people of their province now 
labored under any grievances, the violent measures 
adopted were not calculated to remove them : but on the 
contrary could not fail of drawing down inevitable ruin. 

"Let me, therefore, gentlemen," he continued, '"most 
earnestly entreat you as the only legal representatives of 
the people in this province — the only constitutional guar- 
dians of its welfare — and who are so deeply interested in 
the event of the measures now carrying on — to deliber- 
ate, to resolve, with that temper, coolness, and modera- 
tion the important instant demands, and to reflect that 
the happiness or misery of generations yet unborn will 
depend on your determinations." He assured them that, 
if it was in his power to be in any degree instrumental in 
restoring that harmony, cordiality, contidencc, and aftec- 



IN THE r.EVOLUTION 65 

tion which should subsist between Great Britain and her 
colonies, he should esteem those moments the happiest 
and most fortunate of his life.^ 

This address was made to those who now sat before his 
Excellency as a constitutional House of Commons, but who 
were the very same men who, calling themselves a Con- 
gress, were engaged in the very measures which, as a 
constitutional House, he was calling upon them to con- 
demn. The chief difference between the two bodies was 
that Mr. Rawlins Lowndes j) resided as Speaker in the 
one, and Mr. Henry Laurens as President in the other. 
To such a body liis Excellency's appeal was made in vain. 

On the 12th of July the Commons attended upon his 
Excellency in the Governor's chamber and Mr. Lowndes, 
their Speaker, presented to him their reply. They 
commenced with curtly observing that at " this very 
alarming and critical " period they were willing to post- 
pone the considerations of their private affairs whenever 
the public exigencies demanded their attention : fully 
convinced that the safety of private property entirely 
depends upon the security of public rights. They sin- 
cerely lamented that his Majesty's councils and the con- 
duct of his ministers had incapacitated them from meeting 
his Excellency with those expressions of joyful congratu- 
lation upon his arrival, with which in happier times they 
had been accustomed to meet his Majesty's representa- 
tive, but that the calamities of America, the present 
dangerous and dreadful situation, occupied all their 
thoughts and banished every idea of joy or pleasure. 
They did not doubt the fervent zeal of his Excellency's 
heart for the real interest and happiness of the colony, 
nor the sincerity of his professions to be instrumental in 
restoring harmony, confidence, and affection between 
1 MS. Journal of Commons House, 291, 293. 



56 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Great Britain and her colonies ; but they were surprised 
at the severe censures passed on measures which had been 
adopted by the good people of the colony for the preser- 
vation of their liberties. 

In times when the spirit of the constitution has full 
operation and, animating all the members of the State, gives 
security to liberty, then we claim, said they, to be " the 
only legal representative of the people in the province — 
the only constitutional guardian of its welfare"; but in 
the present unhappy situation of affairs, as their meeting 
depended upon the pleasure of the Crown, their constitu- 
ents would not trust to so precarious a contingent, but 
wisely appointed another representative body for neces- 
sary, special, and important purposes. 

They wanted words to give an idea of their feelings at 
his Excellency's expression, " If there be any grievances 
that we apprehend the people of the province labor 
under," as if he doubted their existence when the world 
resounded with them. They would have esteemed it a 
high obligation if his Excellency had pointed out what 
steps they had omitted to avert the inevitable ruin of 
their once flourishing colony. Every pacific measure 
which human wisdom could devise had been used — the 
most humble and dutiful petitions to the Throne — peti- 
tions to the House of Lords and House of Commons had 
been repeatedly presented and as often treated not only 
with slight, but with rigor and resentment. 

The Governor replied that he had delayed the meeting 
of the General Assembly for about three weeks at the 
suggestion of the Speaker, Mr. Lowndes himself, and of 
others, with a view to the convenience of the members, and 
therefore little expected the implied reflection contained 
in the opening of their address ; that he had already 
declined entering into any discussion of the present un- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 57 

happy disputes and should not undertake the disagreeable 
task of replying to the 2:)articulars of the address. It was 
his duty to lay before them the fatal consequences of the 
measures lately adopted, and he had faithfully and con- 
scientiously discharged it; but as these appeared to them 
in so different a point of view, he could only add his 
fervent wishes that the great Sovereign of the Universe, 
to whom the Commons appealed, would, in His goodness, 
avert those evils with which the country was threatened. 

I?ut the House would do no business. It adjourned 
from day to day until the 20th of July, which having 
been appointed by the Continental Congress as a day of 
fasting, humiliation, and prayer, the Commons went in 
procession Avith their silver mace before them to St. 
Philip's Church, where again a sermon suitable to the 
occasion was preached by the Rev. Robert Smith — a ser- 
mon which was said to have assisted in confirming their 
patriotism and settling their determination. On the 21st 
the House requested leave of his Excellency to adjourn 
until the 1st of November ; and awaiting reply the Speaker 
adjourned it from day to day until the 24th, when the 
Governor sent an answer. This answer was inadver- 
tently addressed to the Speaker and Gentlemen of the 
Loiver House of Assembly. At this the Commons at once 
flared up, supposing that his Excellency intended thereby 
to renew the dispute and assert the right of the Council 
to be called an Upper House ; u^wn his attention being 
called to it, however, he at once withdrew the message 
and addressed them under the old style of the Commons 
House of Assembly. He declined, however, to allow 
their adjournment. 

It was during this time that the Provincial Association 
was being pressed upon the people as we have seen, and 
that Arthur Middleton was urging upon the General 



58 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Committee to attach the estates of those who had left 
the colony and for the expatriation of all those who 
should refuse to sign the Association. In pressing- these 
rigorous measures in the Committee, Arthur Middle- 
ton was often alone. The two other extremists were 
away ; Christopher Gadsden was in Philadelphia attend- 
ing the Continental Congress, and William Henry Dray- 
ton was on the mission in the back cou]ltr3^ 

On the 11th of August another case of tarring and 
feathering took place. In a letter of the 12th of August 
written by Arthur Middleton to William Henry Drayton 
in the upper country, he thus tells of the affair. 

" A i\Ir. Walker, Gunner of Fort Johnson, had a new suit of clothes 
yesterday without the assistance of a single taylor. His crime was 
notliing less than damning us all. During his circumcartation he was 
stopped at the doors of the principal Non-Associators and made to 
drink damnation to them all, not excepting Sir Wm. on the Bay." 

Peter Timothy, the secretary of the Council of Safety, 
also writes to Mr. Drayton : — 

"Yesterday evening the Gunner of Fort Johnson (one Walker) 
had a decent tarring and feathering for some insolent speech he had 
made; there is hardly a street through which lie was not paraded, 
nor a Tory house where they did not halt: particularly Innes's, Simp- 
son's, Wragg's, Milligan's, Irving's, etc., etc. At Fenwicke Bull's they 
stopt — called for grog — had it — made Walker drink damnation to 
Bull, threw a bag of feathers into his balcony — desired he would 
take care of it till his turn came, and that he would charge the grog 
to the account of Lord North. Finally the wretch was discharged at 
^lilligan's door. The people were in such a humor there were scarce a 
non-subscriber who did not tremble, and Wells had his shop close shut." ^ 

Robert Wells was the editor of the South Carolina and 
American General Gazette, the rival of the South Carolina 

1 Memoirs of the lievolution (Drayton), vol. II, 17. This Fenwicke 
Bull was a recent innni,ij;rant from England, and not one of either the Bull 
or Fenwicke families of the province. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 59 

Gazette^ edited by Mr. Timothy, and Avas opposed to these 
extreme measures. Is it any wonder that under the treat- 
ment he should oppose the whole movement ? Upon the 
occupation of Charlestown by the English, he continued 
the publication of his paper under the name of the Royal 
Gazette. This brutal conduct in the name of Liberty was 
no doubt confirming many a wavering citizen in deter- 
mined, if for the present silent, opposition to the Revo- 
lutionary party. It no doubt added many a name to the 
addressers of Sir Henry Clinton and to those who pre- 
ferred British protection to the tender mercies of those 
who could uphold the outrageous violence and tyranny 
of a town mob rioting in the name of Freedom. 

Lord William Campbell became much alarmed. On the 
15th of August, he sent in a message to the Commons 
House saying that when he declined some time before to 
comply with their request to adjourn, he saw too plainly 
the unhappy extremities to which they were hastening, 
and he had good grounds to apprehend the want of their 
assistance and advice ; but since that time he had the 
mortification of being a spectator of"l5utrages he had lit- 
tle expected when seen in this place. He complained that 
the officers of the Crown had been called upon to give 
reasons for refusing to sign an Association that was con- 
trary to every tie of duty and allegiance, and had had 
in like arbitrary and illegal manner an oath tendered to 
them equally incompatible with their conscience and their 
honor. He then alluded to the barbarous outrage com- 
mitted in the streets of the town on the Saturday before, 
on a poor, helpless, wretched individual. 

"Tn a word, gentlemen," he continued, " yon well know tlie powers 
of the government are wrested out of my hands, I can neither pro- 
tect nor punish. Therefore with the advice of His ]\Iajesty's Council 
I apply to you, and desire that in this dreadful emergency you will 



60 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

aid me with all the assistance in your power in enforcing the laws and 
protecting liis Majesty's servants, and all other peaceable and faithful 
subjects in that quiet possession of their liberty and property which 
every Englishman boasts it is liis birlhriglit to enjoy, or you must 
candidly acknowledge that all law and government is at an end. 
Sorry I am to add that some particular insults offered to myself, make 
it necessary that I should be assured of the safety of my own family, 
and that its peace is not in danger of being invaded." 

There was more reason for his alarm than probably 
even his Excellency knew, for Drayton, who had now re- 
turned from his mission in the interior, was then urging 
the Council of Safety, " that the Governor should be 
taken into custody." Humiliating, indeed, w^as his Lord- 
ship's position : appealing for protection to those who 
Avere themselves the authors and instigators of the de- 
fiance to his authority. The Governor's message was 
referred to a committee, of which Mr. Brewton, his friend 
and connection, was chairman. This committee reported 
a reply which was adopted. It declared that when civil 
commotions prevail, and a people are threatened both 
with internal and external dangers, the}^ would be unwise 
not to entertain a jealousy of intestine foes, and not to 
take every precaution to guard against their secret machi- 
nations. For this purpose the inhabitants of the colony 
had been impelled to adopt certain measures which, 
althougli not warranted by any of the written laws, yet 
in their apprehension were more justifiable and constitu- 
tional than many acts of the British administration. In 
times like the present, if individuals would wantonly step 
forth and openly censure and condemn measures univer- 
sally received and approved, they must abide the con- 
sequences. It was not in their power in such cases 
to prescribe limits to popular fury. Upon inquiry into 
the circumstances of last Saturday — of which his Excel- 
lency so pathetically complained — they had been told 



IN THE REVOLUTION 61 

that the populace, enraged by the daring and unprovoked 
insolence of a person who, though supported by the pub- 
lic and eating the country's bread, openly and ungrate- 
fully uttered the most bitter curses and imprecations 
against the people of the colony and of all America, had 
seized him, and after a slight corporal punishment, had 
carted him through the streets. 

They confessed this was an outrage ; at the same 
time his Excellency must do them the justice to own 
that it Avas not in their power to prevent it ; and they 
appealed to him if the punishment, which the}'^ supposed 
to be more alarming from its novelty than its severity, 
was equal in any comparative degree to that which his 
Excellency knew was frequently inflicted by an English 
mob upon very petty offenders — surrounded by an active 
magistracy and even in full view of their Majesty's pal- 
ace. ^ They were sorry that any particular insults should 
have been offered to his Excellency or that he should 
have au}^ reason to apprehend that the peace and safety 
of his family was in danger. They hoped and trusted 
that Ids Excellency's wise and prudent conduct would 
render such apprehensions groundless ; and assured him 
that on their part every endeavor would be used to pro- 
mote and inculcate a proper veneration and respect for 
the character of his Majesty's representative. 

This was the most satisfactory answer which his Lord- 
ship could get from a committee headed by his most inti- 
mate friend in the colony — the person in whose house 

1 This allusion is to the pillory, which consisted of a wooden post or 
frame, fixed on a platform, raised several feet from the ground, behind 
which the culprit stood, his head and hands thrust through holes in the 
frame so as to be exposed in front of it. In this position the poor crea- 
ture was often pelted with rotten eggs and other missiles by the mob, and 
otherwise maltreated in the presence of the officers of the law. 



62 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

he was entertained upon liis arrival. His position was 
indeed most unliappy. 

Tliis message of the Commons House of Assembly was 
the last communication which that body had with his 
Excellency Lord William Campbell. It was, too, the last 
business transacted by the old Colonial Assembly. The 
only entries after this are the adjournments from day to 
day for a month more, when the House was finally dis- 
solved — a dissolution which proved to be not onl}^ that 
of the Commons House of Assembly, but the extinction of 
the last vestige of the Royal government in the province 
of South Carolina. 

But there was trouble in the councils of the Revolu- 
tionists, and renewed evidence of the divisions and disaf- 
fections which existed even in Charlestown, the seat of the 
movement. The authority of the Congress and Council 
was not universally accepted even there. The Commons 
might shield and justify the tarring and feathering of the 
gunner of Fort Johnson because he had wantonly cen- 
sured and condemned their measures, which they claimed 
were universally received and approved, but they could 
not sustain the authority of the Council even with tlie 
militia of the town. There was something very like 
mutiny in this body in their very presence. In conse- 
quence of the disturbances in the upper country the Coun- 
cil of Safety had published a Declaration of Alarm and 
had placed the Charlestown Regiment of Militia — which 
was commanded by Colonel Charles Pinckney — himself a 
member of this Council — under regulations for default of 
duty as prescribed for times of actual invasion " subject 
and liable to all the pains, penalties, forfeitures and dis- 
abilities expressed and set forth in and by any of the mili- 
tia acts of this colony." 

Upon this twelve companies of volunteers in that regi- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 63 

ment, which had enrolled themselves in consequence of 
the resolution of the Provincial Congress for forming 
volunteer companies, and which were well clothed and 
armed and which had diligently attended their military 
exercises, alarmed at this order subjecting them to actual 
service and martial law, prepared and presented a remon- 
strance to the Council of Safety. They stated that upon 
inquiry they had been informed that this declaration was 
intended to compel such of the inhabitants of the town as 
were not enrolled and would do no duty to enlist them- 
selves immediatel3^ That if this was the intent and 
meaning of the declaration they remonstrated in the 
strongest manner against it, as an act which, if carried into 
execution, would subject them to severe and unmerited 
punishment and oppression ; and like those of the British 
Parliament respecting the colonies, would involve in one 
common punishment the innocent with the guilty. They 
requested that the declaration should be entirely done 
away with. The Council of Safety replied, endeavoring 
to satisfy the volunteers as to the reasons for the order ; 
but their reasons were not accepted ; and the companies 
addressed another communication to the General Com- 
mittee, which the committee answered, but without effect. 
This discontent of the volunteers gave such anxiety that 
it was not deemed expedient to issue any orders to them 
lest they might openly mutiny. At the end of a month, 
however, the company of Light Infantry led the way to 
reconciliation by offering their services to the Council of 
Safety, and this was followed by other companies. It is 
remarkable that while the Germans in the country were 
almost universally opposed to the Revolution, the only 
volunteer company which refused to join in this resistance 
to the Council of Safety was the German Fusiliers, an 
organization which, serving with distinction in the llevolu- 



64 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tionary war, especially at the siege of Savannah — and 
again in the late war between the States — still exists as 
one of the military companies of South Carolina. 

The conduct of the volunteer companies of Charlestown 
greatly discouraged the Council and induced some of them 
to send to the delegates in the Continental Congress a 
gloomy picture of things indicating their anxiety regard- 
ing public affairs. It equally encouraged the Governor. 

His Excellency had in the meantime heen endeavoring 
to maintain a correspondence with the disaffected in the 
back countr}'. The Council of Safety was aware of this ; 
Ijut his Excellency had been so cautious and careful as to 
whom he intrusted his confidences and dispatches, as to 
bafile their efforts to expose him. It wall be recollected, 
however, that when ]Mr. Drayton had refused to receive 
Moses Kirkland's offer to surrender himself, Kirkland 
had escaped in disguise to Charlestown. He arrived 
there on the night of the 11th of September and was 
received by the Governor at his residence in Meeting 
Street. A creek then ran up what is now Water Street 
and then passed the rear end of the lot of the Governor's 
residence, from which communication by small boats was 
easily maintained witli the vessels of war in the harbor. 
By this means his Excellency had Kirkland secretly and 
safely conveyed on board the sloop of war Tamar. But 
in doing this the Governor had not altogether escaped 
the vigilance of the General Committee. It was known to 
them on the 13th, and the committee succeeded in securing 
the person of ojie Bailey Chancy, who had come with Kirk- 
land from the country. The capture of this person dis- 
closed the part that the Governor had been playing. He 
had assured the members of the General Committee that 
though applications had been made to him from the back 
country, upon his honor he had discouraged them. That 



m THE REVOLUTION 65 

though the persons who had applied to him had informed 
liim that the party was four thousand strong, he had 
advised them to be quiet, — to act the part of peaceable 
good citizens, — and not to raise civil war among them- 
selves. From Chaney the committee now learned that the 
Governor had been deceiving them and had held a cor- 
respondence with his friends in the back country. To 
secure undoubted intelligence as to his Excellency's move- 
ments, Chaney was induced by threats and promises to 
introduce to the Governor Captain Adam McDonald, an 
officer of the First Regiment of Infantry, disguised as a 
back countryman, a companion of Chaney's. The decep- 
tion succeeded. The}' went to Lord William's residence 
at ten o'clock on the night of the loth of September, when 
Captain ^IcDonald, passing himself off as a sergeant to Cap- 
tain Kirkland and offering to carry safely an}' message or 
letter to Fletchall, Browne, or Cuningham, succeeded in 
securing from Lord William the intelligence that he had 
a letter from the King informing him of his Majesty's 
purpose to carry into execution a scheme for the subjec- 
tion of the colonies from one end of the continent to the 
other ; that troops would be sent before the fall, and South 
Carolina would be a seat of war. He promised Chaney 
to i)ut him on board the man-of-war the next day, but 
advised McDonald that he could be no safer anywhere 
than in Charlestown, as the militia were all in an uproar 
and were ready to turn the committee soldiers out of the 
barracks. 

Upon the report of the result of this ruse there was 
great indignation, and Arthur Middleton on the General 
Committee urged that his Excellency should be taken 
into custody ; but a strong opposition headed by Mr. 
Tx)wndes prevented it. During the discussion Captain 
McDonald with eiofht leadinof and influential members 



66 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the General Committee, who were in favor of Mr. 
jNIiddleton's proposition, were sent to Lord William with 
certain propositions, and were directed to demand from 
him the perusal of his correspondence with the back 
country and of his dispatches from England, and to 
require that he should deliver up Moses Kirkland. The 
committee met Lord William going to the riverside, and 
made the demands in pursuance of their instructions ; 
with which he at once peremptorily refused to comply. 
Upon this one of the eight members returned to the Gen- 
eral Committee and rej^orted what had passed. The con- 
sideration of the matter of taking the (governor into 
custody was then resumed, contrary as it was claimed to 
a stipulation that no vote should be taken until all the 
eight had returned. The moderate party defeated the 
proposition by twenty-three to sixteen ; had the other 
seven been present there would still have been but a tie 
vote. 

Affairs, however, had reached a crisis. As the Gen- 
eral Committee had learned from Lord AVilliam that 
British troops were expected soon to arrive, it was deemed 
high time to take possession of Fort Johnson command- 
ing the approach from Charlestown to the sea, and they 
recommended the measure to the Council of Safety. 
The Council immediately issued orders to that effect to 
Colonel William Moultrie, and on the next day, the 15th 
of September, a detachment of artillery took posts at the 
bastions in the town, which were ready to receive tliem.^ 
As soon as the committee had left Lord William Camp- 
bell, his Excellency went on board the Tamar, where he 
remained for some hours and then returned to the town. 
During the night his Secretary, INIr. Innes, with part of 
the Taniars crew, landed at Fort Jolmson and dismantled 
1 Ramsay's BcvohUion in So. Car., vol. I, 44, 45. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 67 

the fort by dismounting all the cannon. They left just 
in time to save themselves from capture by the forces 
Colonel Moultrie had ordered to take possession of the 
fort. This body, consisting of Captain Charles Cotes- 
worth Pinckney's, Barnard Elliott's, and Francis Marion's 
companies of provincial troops under the command of 
Lieutenant Colonel Motte, embarked about eleven o'clock 
at Gadsden's wharf at the foot of what is now Calhoun 
Street, on board the Carolina and Georgia packet for the 
short vo3'age across the harbor. Information had been 
received of the landing of INIr. Innes's party at Fort John- 
son, and supposing that the fort had been garrisoned 
from the Tamar, every preparation was made to storm it. 
The troops w'ere divided into the forlorn hope, scaling, 
and supporting parties. The packet took, however, an 
hour to sail from Gadsden's wharf to a quarter of a mile 
of James Island on which the fort stood. There she 
cast anchor, as the mud -flat from the shore prevented her 
getting nearer unless she ran directly to the fort. This 
the captain would not agree to do, as he feared the ebb 
tide would drift him under the guns of the fort. The 
packet had only two small boats, capable of transporting 
but fifteen men at a time. The result w^as that the land- 
ing was only effected by the men wading through the 
water up to their w^aists, and the day of the 15th dawned 
when only Captains Pinckney's and Elliott's companies 
had got ashore. It was determined, however, not to wait 
for Captain Marion's compan}', but to move at once upon 
the fort. This was done w'ith eagerness, but when the 
forlorn hope advanced up the glacis the gates were found 
open and the cannon dismounted. Of the garrison only 
the gunner Walker and four men were taken prisoners. 

Lord William Campbell now realized that his influence 
and power were entirely gone, and he hastened to take the 



68 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

final steps wliich put a formal end to the Royal govern- 
ment. On the day of the seizure of Fort Johnson by the 
provincial troops, he issued a proclamation dissolving the 
Commons House of Assembly of the province ; and avail- 
ing himself of the same means of escape — the creek which 
ran to the back of the lot to his residence — took refuge 
on board the Tamar, then riding at anchor in Rebellion 
Road. Following the example of James the Second, who 
took with him in his flight from Ids kingdom the great 
seal of England, Lord William took with him the great 
seal of the province. 

The Governor remaining on the Tamar, on the 29th of 
September the General Committee sent a deputation from 
their body with an address inviting his return to Charles- 
town, in which they assured him that, whilst agreeable 
to his repeated and solemn declarations, his Excellency 
should take no active part against the good people of the 
colony in their struggle for the preservation of tlieir civil 
liberties, they would, to the utmost of their power, secure 
him that safety and respect for his j^erson and character 
which the inhabitants of Carolina ever wished to show 
to the representative of tlieir sovereign. His Excellency 
replied, indignantly repudiating the intimation that he 
could at any time have so forgotten his duty to his sover- 
eign as to promise he would take no active part in bring- 
ing the subverters of the Constitution and of the real 
liberties of the people to a sense of their duty. He 
declared that he would never return to Charlestown till 
he could support the King's authority and protect his 
faithful and h)yal subjects. This, as we shall see, he 
attempted, and in doing so lost his life. 



CHAPTER IV 

1775 

About the time Fort Johnson was seized liis Majesty's 
sloop of war, the Cherokee^ arrived in tlie liarbor and took 
position in Rebellion Road, where she joined the Tamar. 
Upon this the Council of Safety reenforced Colonel Motte 
at Fort Johnson by Captain Thomas Heyward, Jr.'s com- 
pany of Charlestown Artillery. At dawn of the 17th of 
September tlie men-of-war with the packet Sioallow sailed up 
and presented themselves within point-blank range of the 
fort. An engagement was expected, but the vessels made 
only a demonstration and returned to their former anchor- 
age. Fort Johnson was then further reenforced by the 
companies of Captains Benjamin Cattell, Adam McDonald, 
and John Barnwell of the First Regiment, and Captains 
Peter Horry and Francis Iluger of the Second. A flag 
was made for the fort and hoisted by the direction of the 
Council of Safety. It was of a blue color with a crescent 
in the dexter corner. This was the first American flag 
unfurled in South Carolina, and its dis[)lay caused much 
uneasiness to those who were still looking with hope for a 
reconciliation. 1 

Upon the question of further preparation for hostilities 
there was great difference of opinion as well in the Gen- 

^ Moultrio's Memoirs, vol. I, 91 ; Memoirs of the Revohttion (Dray- 
ton), vol. II, 51, 52. This flag was designed by Colonel Moultrie. The 
crescent was introduced because the soldiers of the First and Second 
regiments, detachments of which were in the fort, wore a silver cres- 
cent on the front of their caps. Their uniform was blue. Ibid., 53. 

69 



70 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

eral Committee as in the Council of Safety. Having now 
possession of Fort Johnson, the Council had prohibited 
intercourse with liis Majesty's ships of war in the liarbor, 
and had limited the supplies for the ships from the town 
to one day's consumption. This led to some tart corre- 
spondence between Captain Thornbrough and Mr. Laurens, 
in which the former expressed his determination " to have 
the assistance of a pilot and every necessary supply by 
force, if I cannot obtain them in an amicable way." In 
consequence of this threat the General Committee pro- 
posed to the Council to take possession of Sullivan's Island, 
from which position the ships of war could be reached by 
guns, and thus be compelled to leave the harbor. The 
suggestion was formally adopted, but no action was taken 
upon it. Then a vessel was found, the Prosper, which it 
was reported was able to bear twelve-pounders on her 
deck, and it was proposed to fit her out as a vessel of war 
against the King's ships, but this proposition was rejected. 
Then the General Committee obtained from the pilots a 
report upon the width and depth of the channels of the 
harbor, and that eleven schooners sunk in the ship chan- 
nel and twenty in the other would sufficiently obstruct 
them. But the question at once presented itself, how 
could they accomplish the obstruction of the channels in 
the face of the British men-of-war? The first step, there- 
fore, was to get rid of these vessels, and it was proposed 
that the men-of-war should be '^ first secured, destroyed, or 
removed " ; but upon the question being put in the Gen- 
eral Committee, it was first lost by a vote of 23 to 17 ; upon 
a reconsideration, however, the next day it was carried by 
a vote of 29 to 21. But when this resolve of the General 
Committee was laid before the Council of Safety with the 
request that that body would find the means of carrying 
it out, a division of opinion was found to exist in that 



IN THE REVOLUTION 71 

body as well, and so equal was it that it became necessary 
that Henry Laurens, the President of the Council, should 
give the casting vote. He asked for time to consider, 
and the next day voted in favor of the measure ; in 
the hope, it was said, that the public impulse should not 
be checked and cooled, while a better measure might be 
devised. 

The Council of Safety thus committed to the vigorous 
measures of the General Committee, the next step was to 
carry out the plan of threatening the King's ships in the 
rear by batteries on Haddrell's Point and Sullivan's 
Island ; but the project created great alarm among the 
citizens, who already saw the town in flames from the fire 
of the ships. Mr. Thomas Bee, one of the Council of 
Safety, assisted in the draft of a petition against the 
movement, and also against the obstruction of the bar, 
which was soon signed by three hundred and sixty-eight 
citizens. The petitioners declared the measures " alto- 
gether impracticable, and if persisted in would bring on 
the inevitable destruction of this now flourishing town." 
They humbly requested that a stop might be put to them 
until the sense of all the inhabitants might be known. 
This petition of the citizens was a great relief to the 
Council of Safety, divided as it was, having acquiesced in 
the plan only by the vote of Mr. Laurens, who was but 
half hearted in its adoption. In turn the Council of 
Safety referred the petition to the General Committee, in 
which, after a long debate, it was agreed to by a vote of 
22 to 11. Thus ended for the time the attempts to rid 
the harbor of the British men-of-war. ^ 

The matter of driving out the King's ships and obstruct- 
ing the harbor had been abandoned for a while ; but the 
party for vigorous action, led by William Henry Drayton 
^ Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 63, 57. 



72 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

with his irrepressible and indomitable energy, were not 
discouraged, nor were they at all content to leave the 
military defence of the province to Colonel ^Moultrie, who, 
in the absence of Colonel Gadsden, who was attending 
the Continental Congress, was in command of the colonial 
force in the harbor. The wildest schemes were proposed 
and debated, which JNIoultrie ridiculed. Various bodies of 
commissioners, of almost all of which ]Mr. Drayton was a 
member, and of which he was usually chairman, were 
appointed to build batteries, to intrench the town, to 
obstruct the harbor, etc., duties which properly pertained 
to the militar}^ and not to the civil authorities.^ 

The dissatisfaction of the volunteer companies and the 
general situation of affairs Imd induced the General Com- 
mittee on the 30tli of September to summon the Provincial 
Congress to meet on Wednesday, the first day of Novem- 
ber. The Congress met accordingly at the State House 
in Charlestown, and chose William Henry Drayton Presi- 
dent. Colonel Laurens was thanked " for his unwearied 
diligence, application, and merit in the discharge of the 
duties of that office " ; but the election of Mr. Drayton 
would, nevertheless, appear to have been a victory for 
the aggressive party. This was not, however, tlie view 
which Mr. Drayton hhnself took of it. He resented his 
election as an attempt to silence him ; he charged that 
the moderate party had voted him into the chair for that 
purpose ; but instead of weakening the patriots, as the 
aggressive men styled themselves, it was said to have added 
to their strength, for the President's harangue with which 
he closed all debates had, it was observed, more weight than 
the same words spoken by him simply as Mr. Drayton.^ 

1 Mt'moirs of (he lievolution (Drayton), vol. II, 58-59 ; Moultrie's 
Memoirs, vol. I, !)•'), 0(5. 

2 Memoirs of the Bevolution (Drayton), vol. II, 70. 



IN THE llEVOLUTION 73 

Colonel Charles Pinckne}', Colonel Laurens, Colonel 
Richardson, Mr. Arthur Micldleton, Mr. Ferguson, Colonel 
Bull, Captain Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Mr. Har- 
rington, Mr. Kershaw, and Mr. Cannon were appointed a 
comniittee to report upon tlie state of the colony, and the 
proper measures which ought to be pursued for putting 
the same in the best posture of defence. In the com- 
position of this committee there was, for the first time, 
any considerable representation in the revolutionary 
government of the people of the province beyond the low 
country. Colonel Richard Richardson was the Colonel of 
the militia regiment in Camden District. He was soon 
to take a most active part against the King's party in 
the upper country, and to lead an expedition sweeping 
through the whole of that region. Mr. William Henry 
Harrington Avas Captain of a volunteer company from 
The Cheraws. Mr. Kershaw was a member from St. 
Mark's Parish. Colonel Stephen Bull, nephew of Lieu- 
tenant Governor Williiun Bull, was Colonel of the militia 
regiment of Prince William's Parish, which then nomi- 
nally included the whole country along the Savannah River. 
There was no one from the pojiulous region of Ninety-Six, 
more especially known as the Up Country. The gentle- 
men we have named as from beyond the low country were 
from the middle and not from the upper part of the State. 

The Congress had been in session but a few days when 
stirring events took place in Charlestown harbor, and the 
first battle of the Revolution in Soutli Carolina was 
fought. It is a common saying that history is fond of 
repeating itself. It is most remarkable that the battle 
which inaugurated the war of the Revolution in 1775, 
like that which inaugurated the great war between the 
States in 1861, while lasting two days, ended without a 
single casualty on either side. 



74 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

British cruisers had kept the New England coast from 
Falmouth to New London in a state of continual alarm. 
On the 30th of September Stonington, Connecticut, had 
been bombarded for a day, two men had been killed, and 
liouses shattered. 0)i the 1st of October Admiral Wal- 
lace had sailed up the bay to Bristol, Rhode Island, and 
demanded from the inhabitants three hundred sheep. 
Compliance with the demand being refused, the town was 
bombarded. The firing upon this town began at about 
eight o'clock in the evening, while the rain was pouring in 
torrents. The house of Governor Bradford with others was 
burned, and tlie women and children driven into the fields 
to escape the missiles of the enemy. The bombardment 
of Falmouth — now Portland, Maine — had taken place 
on the 7th, but the Congress in Charlestown appear 
as yet to have heard only of that of Bristol ; but that was 
sufficient to enable the aggressive party to force the action 
which had hitherto been defeated. On the 9th of Novem- 
ber they carried through the Congress a resolution direct- 
ing the officer commanding at Fort Johnson " by every 
military operation to oppose the passage of any British 
naval armament that might attempt to pass."^ It was 
also ordered that the President should w^rite to Captain 
Thornbrough, informing him of the passage of this 
resolution in the Congress, whereupon Mr. Drayton as 
President issued the following : — 

" By Order of Congress. 

" To Edward Thornbrough, Commander of the Tamar Sloop of 

War. 
"CiiARLKSTOWN, Xovember 9, 1775. 
" Sir: The late cruel cannonade of Bristol by the British ships of 
war to enforce an arbitrary demand of sheep — the general depreda- 

1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. I, 47. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 75 

tioiis on the American coasts by ministerial authority — the hite 
advices from England of large military armaments by land and sea, 
for the hostile invasion of the colonies upon the continent, and 
proclamation of 2;3d of August last, at the Court of St. James, by 
which the good people of America are unjustly described as in avowed 
rebellion — superadded to the former American grievances, together 
with Lord William Campbell's threats of hostilities against us — 
have sunk deep in the minds of the people ; who, seeing themselves 
by tiie royal act in effect put out of the regal protection, are at length 
driven to the disagreeable necessity of ordering a military opposition 
to the arms of the British ministry. But the people of South Caro- 
lina, remembering that those who point the British arms at their 
breast and against their invaluable liberties, are their dear country- 
men, and once were friends : unwilling, yet determined vigorously to 
oppose any approach of threatening danger to their safety, have 
directed me to intimate to you, sir, as commander-in-chief of the 
British armament in this station, that orders are issued to the com- 
manding officer at Fort Johnson by every military operation to en- 
deavour to prevent every ministerial armament from passing that 
post. 

'• AVe thus think it proper to warn you from an approach that must 
be productive of the shedding of blood ; wOiich, in other circumstances, 
we would endeavour to preserve. 

" I have the honour to be, sir, your most humble servant, 

" William Henry Draytox, President." 

Captain Thombrough did not immediately act upon 
this declaration of war, nor did he accej)t the challenge 
to pass the fort. The collision came in another way. 
A passage to the town without the range of the guns 
of Fort Johnson was still practicable for the small royal 
armed vessels Tamar and Cherokee^ — the Tamar carrying 
sixteen six-pounders and the Cherokee six cannon. Tins 
passage was by means of the channels which separated 
the marsh land antl mud flats, known as Shute's Folly, on 
Avhii'h Castle Pinckney now stands, from the marshes and 
maiidand of Christ Church Parish. These channels were 
known as Marsh Channel and Hog Island Channel. On 



76 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the 19tli of October William Henry Drayton and Thomas 
Hey ward, Jr., had been appointed by the Council of Safety 
Commissioners to obstruct them. They now proceeded 
vigorously to this work, hoping that it Avould in some way 
bring about a collision which they desired. To cover the 
work a coasting schooner Avhich had been armed for the 
security of the town, and called the Defence, commanded by 
Captain Simon Tufts, was on this occasion armed with two 
nine-pounders, six six-pounders, and two four-pounders, 
and Colonel INloultrie was ordered to detail a captain and 
thirty-five men to act as marines upon her. Captain Will- 
iam Scott volunteered, and was detailed for the purpose. 
Including the marines the schooner now had a comple- 
ment of about seventy men. Six old schooners had been 
purchased for the purpose of being sunk in the channel. 
Two of these had been sunk in jNIarsh Channel, and now 
it was proposed to sink the other four in Hog Island 
Creek. Things being now in readiness for the business, 
the four hulks under the direction of Captain Blake, on 
the 11th of November, covered by schooner Defence, 
dropped down Hog Island Creek with the ebb tide. 
Mr. Drayton, who was as gallant as vigorous, accom- 
panied the expedition, and Ave learn from his Memoirs 
that he did so, hoping that something would occur which 
he might improve in such a manner as to draw on hos- 
tilities, and that thereby the Provincial Congress and 
public councils might be induced to take a bolder stand, 
and be forced to more vigorous measures. He consid- 
ered himself justified as President in attending the ex- 
pedition personally under a resolution of the Congress 
of the day before, i.e. the 10th of November, which 
had authorized and empowered the President to order 
such motions of the troops as he should think necessary 
to enable Captain Blake to sink two schooners in Hog 



IN THE REVOLUTION 77 

Island Channel.^ The affaii' turned out as Mr. Drayton 
had desired, for as soon as the hulks which were in 
advance approached their destination, the Tamar opened 
and fired six shots at them. The shots fell, however, 
short, and Captain Thornbrough having done, as he 
thought, as much as his duty required, stopped his fire ; 
but Mr. Drayton had no idea of losing this opportunity. 
To provoke the British commander to further acts of 
hostility, as soon as the Defence came to an anchor he or- 
dered her two nine-pounders to open upon the Tamar^ 
which, being heavier guns, carried their shot much farther 
than the Tamar s had done. The Tamar, now roused at 
the insult, as ]\Ir. Drayton anticipated, returned the fire 
with three or four shots more, which the Defence answered 
with only one. Captain Blake, in the meanwhile, not to 
lose the ebb tide, was actively engaged in his work, and 
succeeded in sinking three of the hulks ; but before the 
fourth could be placed in position the tide turned, and 
the on-coming flood put an end to the work until the ebb 
the next morning. Meanwhile Captain Thornbrough 
with the Tamar and Cherokee, under the auspices of Lord 
William Campbell, warped into Hog Island cove as close 
iis they could, and about a quarter after four on the morn- 
ing of the 12th opened their broadsides upon the Defence, 
continuing the cannonade until near seven o'clock, firing 
during the time about one hundred and thirty shots. The 
alarm was beaten in Charlestown, the Second Regiment of 
Infantry at the barracks stood to their arms, and the vol- 
unteer companies formed at their different alarm posts, 
while many citizens resorted to the wharves on East Bay 
to witness the engagement, or to indulge in the anxious 
cares which were thereby excited. ^ 

1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 71. 72. 

2 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, November 14, 1775 ; Memoirs of the 
Bevolution (Drayton), vol. II, 71-73. 



78 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Notwithstanding this heavy fire Captain Blake carried 
the fourth hulk to her proper position, and, having scut- 
tled her in various places, she was left sinking. She sank, 
however, slowly, which gave the enemy an opportunity of 
availing themselves of the retreat of the Defence to send 
an armed boat which fired the hulk and towed her into 
shallow water, where she shortly sank. In this action the 
Defence received no other damage than one shot under 
the counter, one in the broadside, and a third which cut 
the fore-starboard shroud ; neither was any person hurt 
on board, as the shots ranged between and over the rig- 
ging, and passed on to the mainland. During this naval 
affair the Carolina officers and men behaved with excellent 
conduct. The garrison at Fort Johnson, warmed by the 
sight of the engagement in their very presence, attempted 
to take part, and fired, at ten degrees' elevation, three 
twenty-six pound shots at his Majesty's ships. One of 
these fell within a few yards of the Tainar's bowsprit, 
another was said to have passed through her spritsail, 
• and the third to have gone through her mizzen-sail ; but 
the distance was thought too great, and the fire Avas dis- 
continued. Between seven and eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing the Defence came up to the town and anchored in the 
stream about opposite to where the Custom House now 
stands, where Colonel Pinckney and many of the citizens 
saluted her with cheers; and in a few minutes after Mr. 
Drayton landed on the wharf, amidst the congratulations 
of his fellow-citizens, he having been on board the Defence 
during the whole affair.^ 

Hostilities, says the author of the Memoirs of the 

Revolution^ were now begun. The people were animated. 

The members of the Provincial Congress who had been 

spectators of the battle in the harbor were warmed, and 

^ Memoirs of the lievulution (Drayton), vol. II, 73, 74. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 79 

they met a few hours after in a fit temper for planning 
vigorous measures. The day being Sunday, the Congress 
first assisted in divine service, which was performed before 
the body by the Rev. Mr. Paul Turquand, one of their 
members, who, it will be remembered, similarly officiated 
when the Congress sat on Sunday, the 11th of January 
before. After the service Captain Tufts made his report 
of the naval engagement in which he had commanded, and 
of the behavior of tlie officers and men who had served 
under him. The report having been made. Congress 
voted their thanks to Captain Tufts for his spirited and 
prudent conduct upon the occasion, and also to Captain 
William Scott, who acted as a volunteer in the command 
of the marines on board the schooner Defence ; and also 
ordered " that those gentlemen be requested to return the 
thanks of this Congress to all the officers and men who 
acted under their respective commands." 

The Congress now proceeded to the consideration of 
other decisive measures. It appointed a committee to 
consider and report immediately upon the expediency and 
expense of fitting, arming, and manning the ship Prosper 
for the purpose of taking or sinking the men-of-war in 
Rebellion Road, and additional batteries were ordered 
erected. Mr, Edwards, chairman of the committee ap- 
pointed to report upon the arming of the Prosper, reported 
in the afternoon, whereupon it was resolved that the ship 
be immediately impressed and taken into service of the 
colony, and fitted and armed as a frigate of war with the 
utmost expedition. Colonel Moultrie was ordered to fur- 
nish a detachment of fifty men under proper officers to 
seize and guard the vessel. The President was desired to 
write to the Council of Safety of Georgia telling of the 
liostilities which had taken place in the harbor, and solic- 
iting their utmost immediate aid and assistance by a sup- 



80 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ply of all the gunpowder and other military stores that 
could be spared. Mr. Daniel De Saussure and Mr. Robert 
William PowelP were sent with the President's letter to 
Georgia. The day ended with the adoption of a very 
important measure which was to serve as a precedent 
throughout the Revolution, and under which John Rut- 
ledge so long preserved the government of the State when 
all other civil authority was overturned and suppressed 
upon the capitulation of the city in 1780. It was resolved 
that " Mr. President (William Henry Drayton), Colonel 
(Charles) Pinckney, and Mr. Thomas Hej'ward, Jr., be 
authorized to order and do whatever they shall think 
necessary for the public safety until the meeting of the 
Congress to-morrow." 

Thus ended, says the author from whom we have just 
quoted, the 12th day of November, which followed the 
actual commencement of British hostilities in South Caro- 
lina. It was begun with prayers to the Almighty Throne, 
from the representative of the people, in which they 
implored Almighty Providence to favor their undertak- 
ings and to support their cause. It was proceeded in 
with a firm reliance upon His assistance, with ardent en- 
deavors on their part to be prepared for the crisis which 
had arrived, and for events which would naturally follow; 
and it was closed by placing in the hands of tried citizens 

1 Robert William Powell was a merchant in Cliarlestown now acting 
with the Americans, but he appears to have abandoned the cause. Cur- 
wen states that in 1783 a claim was brought forward in the House of 
Commons in England for services of Colonel Powell, he having raised a 
regiment of Loyalists, and for losses he sustained which were stated to 
have exceeded £40,000. Tradition states that while Colonel Powell was 
in Charlestown he was distinguished by liis kindness toward his country- 
women of the Carolina parly, who applied to liim under the many 
distressing circumstances to which they were but too often exposed in 
the town. Curwen's Journal and Letters, 1775-84, 662, 663. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 81 

the dictatorial power of taking care lest any damage should 
happen to the Commonivealth.^ 

The Revolutionists now conceived that they had fairly 
committed the colony to open rebellion, and in order to 
settle beyond any evasion the avowal of intention to attack 
the men-of-war in the harbor, Mr. Drayton as President 
of the Provincial Congress, on the morning of the 13th, 
laid before that body a draft of a letter he had written 
to the Council of Safety in Georgia in which he stated 
" We are with all possible expedition fitting out a shijy with 
which, aided hg the schooner Defence, we mean forthivith to 
attack the men-of-war.''' But by this time many members 
of the House had cooled, and the moderate party under 
the lead of Mr. Lowndes and Mr. Pinckney rallied to check 
the precipitancy with which it was sought to commit the 
people to war. They contended that no such resolution 
had been taken, and that the scheme was rash. A long 
and warm debate followed, upon which the House barely 
supported the text of the letter as written. Having car- 
ried this avowal of hostilities, the two vessels which had 
been taken into the service were sent to sea to cruise near 
the bar, to caution all vessels destined for Charlestown to 
steer for some other port. It was determined also to 
raise a regiment of artillery to consist of three companies 
of one hundred men each. In view of the still impending 
dangei- from the men-of-war in the harbor the same gentle- 
men — the President, Colonel Pinckney, and Mr. Hey- 
ward — were before adjournment on this day again 
invested with dictatorial powers until the Congress should 
meet the next morning. 

Hostilities had been begun, but there was still great 
opposition among the people and hesitancy and doubt 
among the leaders. The aggressive party under the lead 
^ Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 75-76. 
VOL. in. — G 



82 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of William Henry Drayton and Arthur Middleton usually 
carried their measures, but Rawlins Lowndes was still 
pleading for moderation, and measures were sometimes 
adopted by a mere majority. The three regiments 
ordered to be raised had not been completed, and so 
divided were the members of Congress that on the 14th 
a motion to instruct the Council of Safety to issue orders 
to complete the establishment was at first lost, and at last 
in a modified form only carried by a majority of one, 
the vote being 48 to 49. Captain Lempriere, wdio had 
served in the British navy and who, as we have seen, 
had captured the powder off the bar of St. Augustine, 
was appointed to the command of the ship Prosper. 
Owen Roberts was elected Lieutenant Colonel ; Barnard 
Elliott, Major ; Barnard Beekman, Charles Drayton, 
and Sims White, Captains ; Paul Townsend, Paymaster ; 
and John Budd, Surgeon of the artillery regiment to be 
raised. The next day, the 15th, the Treasurers of the 
province were ordered to lay before the Congress " the 
present state of the Treasury." There was, as w'e have 
seen, but small representation in the Congress from the 
upper part of the province ; but small as it was, it was 
enough to suggest that the government they were set- 
ting up should be removed to the interior. It w^as 
proposed " that the future meetings of the Provincial 
Congress be held at Camden or at some more central 
place " ; but the previous question having been demanded, 
it passed in the negative. The proceedings of the Con- 
gress were still carried on under apprehension and dread 
of danger from the men-of-war in the harbor ; so when 
the House adjourned this day the committee into whose 
hands the safety of the people was intrusted was in- 
creased by adding to tliese Colonel Laurens and Colonel 
Moultrie. On the 16tli the Congress elected a new Coun- 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 83 

cil of Safety ; there were but few changes made in the body. 
John llutledge, Henry Middleton, Dr. David Oliphant, and 
Thomas Savage were elected in the phices of Miles Brew- 
ton, John Huger, and William AVilliamson. The unde- 
lined powers of this body required revision ; it began to 
appear that some more definite form of government was 
necessary since the flight of Lord William Campbell 
and the dissolution of the Commons House of Assembly. 
A committee was appointed to take this subject into con- 
sideration, and upon their report the powers of the Coun- 
cil of Safety were enlarged and more clearly defined ; but 
as the government under this new scheme was so soon 
superseded b}' the adoption of the Constitution of the 26th 
of ^Nlarch, 1770, it is scarcely necessary to go into its 
details. It is sufficient perhaps to say that by the powers 
conferred on the Council of Safety the Provincial Con- 
gress relieved itself of a vast pressure of executive busi- 
ness. As an illustration of the divided state of public 
opinion and sentiment, it is curious to note the courtesy 
and sympathy that, amidst all the hostile preparations 
that Congress Avas making, were officially extended to Lord 
\\'illiam Campbell, who had taken up his residence on 
l)oard of the Cherokee sloop of war. On the 27th it was 
resolved " that previous to any attack upon the men-of- 
war in the road, the intended attack upon sucli ships shall 
be notified to Lord William Campbell if he shall then be 
on board." Having sent this polite and considerate mes- 
sage to his Lordship, the Congress declared the province 
in a state of alarm, ordered the erection of a battery on 
South Bay in Charlestown, the destruction of the land- 
marks over Charlestown bar, the establishment of a 
general rendezvous of the militia at Dorchester, and the 
erection of lookouts on the sea islands. Under the 
recommendation of their delegates at Philadelphia they 



84 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ordered the arrest of persons whose going at large was 
thought dangerous to the American cause. 

Messrs. De Saussure and Powell, who had returned from 
their deputation to Georgia, having reported pernicious 
practices which had come under their observation relative 
to the exportation of indigo, the Congress prohibited the 
exportation of any of the produce of the united colonies, 
and the President was directed to write to Georgia in 
regard to the exportation of indigo and rice. The thanks 
of Congress were then made to several persons who had 
been volunteers in hazardous services for the benefit of the 
common cause; and the Council of Safety were empowered 
to bestow honorary or other rewards upon such as they 
should think entitled to the same. Mr. Timothy, the 
Clerk of the Congress, was thanked " for his great dili- 
gence, unwearied attention, and accuracy in the execution 
of his office " ; and the Hon. William Henr}^ Drayton, 
President, " for the diligence and propriet}^ with which 
he has discharged the duties of that important station ; 
that the Hon. Mr. Lowndes do, on part of the Con- 
gress, deliver to Mr. President tlieir thanks accordingly." 
Whether Mr. Lowndes himself thanked the Congress for 
imposing upon him this duty may well be doubted, for he 
was the leader of those who were most opposed to the 
vigorous and, as they considered, the rash and unwarranted 
measures of which Mr. Dra3'ton was the soul. These 
elder men indeed stood with bated breath as the younger 
under William Henry Drayton's and Arthur Middleton's 
lead were hurrying them into war. Mr. Lowndes, how- 
ever, accepted the task, and thus briefi}^ addressed Mr. 
Drayton : — 

" Mr. President, the Congress, sensible of your integrity of lieart 
and ability of mind, placed you in the chair for the most important, 
purposes. Your unwearied attendance during this long session and 



IN THE REVOLUTION 85 

your conduct have given the most perfect satisfaction. You are, 
therefore, justly entitled to the thanks of this Congress, who have 
made me the instrument by which their thanks are presented to you 
•and which in their name I do present." 

jNIr. Lowndes had certainly not enlarged upon the duty 
imposed upon him. As the instrument of Congress he 
had, in obedience to their orders, presented to Mr. Drayton 
their thanks. This he had done and nothing more. The 
Congress was then adjourned on the 29th of November to 
Thursday, the first day of February, 1776. 



CHAPTER V 

1775 

On the day the Congress met, the 1st of November, it was 
informed that Captain Robert Cuningham had been taken 
into custody and brought to Charlestown. He had been 
arrested under orders from Major Andrew Williamson 
upon the affidavit of Captain John Caldwell, charging him 
Avith seditious words. Cuningham having been brought 
before the Congress did not deny that he had used the 
words with which he was charged ; he did not believe, he 
said, that Captain Caldwell had perjured himself ; but 
though he did not consider himself bound by the treaty 
at Ninety-Six, he averred " that he had since behaved 
himself as peaceably as any man, and although he had 
opinions he had not expressed them but when asked." 
Upon this frank statement Captain Cuningham was com- 
mitted to the jail of Charlestown by a warrant under the 
hand of William Henry Drayton as President; Thomas 
Grimball the Sheriff was directed, however, to afford him 
every reasonable and necessary accommodation at the pub- 
lic charge. But he was enjoined not to suffer him to con- 
verse or correspond with any person whomsoever, or to 
have the use of pen, ink, or papers unless by express leave 
from the Congress. ^ The arrest of Cuningham was 
deeply resented by the people of the Upper Country, and 
in connection with another matter, which occurred about 
the same time, occasioned further trouble and a far more 
serious disaffection of the peofde in that region. They were 

1 Memoirs of the Jlevulutiun (Drayton), vol. II, 60-61. 
80 



IN THE REVOLUTION 87 

led to believe that the Revolutionists on the coast were 
intriguing with the Indians to bring them down upon the 
frontier settlements because the people there hesitated to 
join them against the King. A bloodless battle had been 
fought in Charlestown harbor. The first blood was now 
to be shed in Ninety-Six District. 

Mr. Drayton while on his mission in that part of the 
country had had a " talk " Avith the Cherokees, and had 
promised to send them a supply of powder and lead ; and 
in compliance with this promise the Council of Safety on 
the 4th of October had dispatched a wagon with one thou- 
sand pounds of powder and two thousand pounds of lead 
as a present to them. It unluckily happened that about this 
time Robert Cuningham's arrest became known ; where- 
upon Patrick Caningham immediately assembled a party 
of about sixty armed men to rescue his brother. They 
failed in doing that, but seized the ammunition on its way 
to the Indians.^ Upon this Major Andrew Williamson, 
who then resided in Ninety-Six, embodied his militia for 
the purpose of recovering the powder and lead. He formed 
a camp at Long Cane, and sent a letter to Edward Wil- 
kinson and Alexander Cameron, the Indian agents then in 
the Cherokee Nation, informing them of the seizure, and 
requesting that the matter should be explained to the 
Indians so as to prevent them from revenging themselves 
upon tlie people of this frontier. On the other hand, the 
Cuningham party represented that the ammunition had 
been sent to the Indians to arm them against the King's 
friends, who formed so large a part of that population.^ 
This unfortunate event added greatly and not unnaturally 
to the opposition to the government of the Congress and 
was of great influence in assisting the collection of a con- 
siderable force in arms between the Broad and Saluda. 

1 Memoirs of the Itcvolution (Drayton), vol. II, 6-4. 2 /^j(^.^ 65. 



88 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

What action should be taken in this emergency was the 
subject of another contention between the two parties in 
the Congress, Arthur Middleton as usual urging vigor- 
ous measures and Rawlins Lowndes opposing them. The 
parties were so evenly divided that in a hundred votes 
two decided the question. Fifty-one supported Middle- 
ton and forty-nine Lowndes. By this vote, on the 8th of 
November, it was determined to assemble a force under 
Colonel Richard Richardson, and to send him to seize 
Patrick Cuningham, Henry O'Neal, Hugh Brown, David 
Reese, Nathaniel Howard, Henry Green, and Jacob Boch- 
man, the leaders of the Royal party. Captain Ezekiel 
Polk, who had been led to desert the cause by Moses 
Kirkland in August, had returned and had been taken 
back into favor, and was again given a company. He now 
accompanied Colonel Richardson. | There was another 
person in this expedition, whom, before this book closes, 
we shall find becoming the real leader in tlie struggle for 
the American cause, and who, with others whose names 
were scarcely yet known, was to redeem the State after it 
had been overrun and lost to those who were now in con- 
trol of the revolutionary movements. This was Thomas 
Sumter, and this was the manner in which he was received 
into the ranks of the Revolutionary party. \" We have 
consulted with Colonel Richardson touching Mr. Sumter's 
application to the Council," wrote William Henry Drayton 
and the Rev. Mr. Tennent to the Council of Safety. '' The 
Colonel readily approved not only of the measure, but of 
the man, notwithstanding Kirkland recommended him as 
his successor in the company of Rangers which he quitted 
and attempted to disband. The Colonel nevertheless from 
his seeming connection with Kirkland proposes to keep a 
sharp eye upon Mr. Sumter'' s condnct."" Sumter thus 
entered the service under suspicion and upon probation. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 89' 

In this expedition he acted as Colonel Richardson's Adju- 
tant General.^ 

In the meanwhile the Congress men under Williamson 
and the King's men under Cuningham continued em- 
bodjing tlieir forces. Williamson lay almost a fortnight 
at Ninety-Six Court House, receiving those who came in and 
waiting for Colonel Thomson with the Rangers. Cap- 
tain Richard Pearis, who, then acting with the Revolution- 
ary party, had accompanied INIr. Drayton on his visit to 
the Indians, disappointed that he had not received the 
military position he desired, now changed sides and 
joined the King's party. He charged the Council of 
Safety with the design of bringing down the Cherokees 
upon the settlements to cut off all the King's men. He 
went so far as to make affidavit that the ammunition 
taken by Patrick Cuningliam was on the way to the 
Cherokee Nation for that purpose. As it was known that 
he had brought the Indians who had met Mr. Drayton 
in September, it was naturally supposed that he was 
acquainted with the intentions of the Council, and his 
assertions were readily believed. The King's party was 
thus speedily swelled in numbers, while Williamson's 
militia came in but slowly. Williamson, however, could 
not believe that the Loyalists would dare to attack him, 
until the 18th of November, when he received certain 
information that they were in full march upon him and 
had actually crossed the Saluda River for the purpose. 
Major Mayson now joined him with a small party of 
Rangers and j^roposed to march at once, themselves 
assume the offensive, and attack their opponents in 
camp. A council of war was called which, as councils of 
war usually do, overruled this vigorous plan of operations. 

1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 65, 69; Gibbes's Doc. 
History, 1764-76, 129. 



90 



HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



On the contrary, Williamson with his forces fell back to a 
position near the Court House, where they fortified them- 
selves as far as they could before the appearance of the 
opposing forces. They had hardly closed their slight 
fortification when on Sunday, the 19th of November, 
Major Robinson and Captain Patrick Cuningham ap- 
peared with their party. A conference was called, and a 
meeting took place between Major Mayson and Captain 
Bowie on the one side, and Robinson, Cuningham, and 
Evan McLaurin on the other. Robinson and his party 
demanded that iNIajor Williamson's militia should sur- 
render their arms and disband. While Williamson was 
considering this demand two of his men were seized by 
the other party, whereupon he gave orders to rescue them, 
and thus brought on a conflict, the first bloodshed in the 
Revolution in South Carolina. For two hours and a half 
the firing on both sides was incessant. The garrison 
including officers consisted of 562 ^ men, while the number 

1 A return of the militia and volunteers on duty in the fortified camp 
at Ninety-Six on Sunday, the 10th of November, 1775, under the com- 
mand of Major Andrew Williamson. By order of the Honorable, the 
Provincial Congress. 



Commanding officers' names of the several 
companies. 



George Reed . . . 
Andrew Pickens , 
Aaron Smith . , 
Benjamin Tutt . . 
Andrew Hamilton . 
Thomas Langden , 
Adam Crane Jones 
Mathew Bcraud . . 
Charles Williams . 



s- 


V. 






O 


o ^ 






















-° s 


£i C3 






el 


S S; 




a 


•a = 


•A S 


z; fe. 


H 


1 


2 


22 


25 


2 


b 


35 


40 


3 


2 


12 


17 


3 


2 


29 


34 


3 


2 


18 


23 


2 


1 


9 


12 


2 


2 


22 


20 


3 





10 


13 


1 


2 


8 


^1 



IN THE REVOLUTION 



91 



of besiegers was about 1890. The siege lasted two days, 
during which Major Williamson's men suffered great hard- 
ship, though but one man was killed and twelve wounded ; 
while on the other side several were killed and about 
twenty wounded. On Tuesday, the 21st, at sunset the 
King's party displayed a white flag and called a parley, in 
which Major Kobinson renewed his former demand, allow- 
ing only one hour for answer. Captain Bowie was sent 
at once with the joint answer of Majors Williamson and 



"3 ? 

^ 1 


Commanding officers' names of the several 
companies. 




^1 


.o 3 
1 1 


II 
^1 


"3 
o 


Total of all 
ranks in the 
camp. 


10 


Francis Logan 


2 


1 


15 


18 




11 


Alexander Noble 


2 





2 


4 




12 


John Anderson 


2 


1 


8 


11 




13 


James Williams 


2 


2 


24 


28 




14 


Robert McCreary 


3 


2 


25 


30 




15 


John Kodgers 


3 


2 


15 


20 




16 


Jacob Colson" 


2 


1 


15 


18 




17 


Hugh Middleton 


1 





2 


3 




18 


Francis Sinquefield 


2 





15 


17 




19 


James McCall 


3 


3 


48 


54 




20 


David Hunter 


2 


2 


15 


19 




21 




3 


2 
1 


21 
15 


26 
18 




22 


Robert Anderson 


2 




23 


Nathaniel Abney 


3 


2 


18 


23 




24 


William Wilson 


2 


1 


13 


16 




25 


Joseph Hamilton Artillery . . . 
Major Williamson 


1 





16 


17 






55 


36 


432 


523 












1 














1 














37 


562 

















I Captain Colson's company were volunteers from Georgia. 

— Memoirs of the lievohuion (Drayton), vol. II, 150. 



92 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Mayson, that they were determined never to resign their 
arms. In two hours Major Robinson returned with Cap- 
tain Patrick CUiningham, and upon their withdrawing 
the peremptory demand for surrender it was agreed that a 
conference should take phice the next morning. Accord- 
ingly, at the appointed hour, Majors Williamson and May- 
son with Captains Pickens and Bowie met Major Robinson, 
Captain Cuningham, Evan McLaurin, and Pearis, when 
it was agreed that hostilities should immediately cease, 
that the garrison should be marched out of their impro- 
vised fort and their swivels given up, which by a secret 
agreement for tliat purpose were in a day or two privately 
restored. This mock surrender of the swivels was agreed 
upon by the leaders to appease a large party of the besiegers 
Avho, while the negotiation was progressing, demanded their 
surrender. The treaty further stipulated that the public 
differences should be submitted to Lord William Camp- 
bell the Governor on the part of the King's men, and to 
the Council of Safety on the part of Major Williamson 
and those under his command ; that each party should 
send messengers to their princijials, and twenty days be 
allowed for their return ; that Major Robinson should 
withdraw his men over the Saluda River, and keep them 
there or disperse them as he pleased until he should 
receive his Excellency's orders ; that no person of either 
party should be molested in returning home ; that should 
reenforcements arrive, they should be bound by the treaty ; 
that all prisoners should be set at liberty, the fortifications 
levelled, and the well which had been dug in the forts 
filled up.i 

Such was the rather inglorious end of an affair which 
otherwise, however, might have produced the most disas- 
trous consequences, and at once liave inaugurated the 
1 Memoirs of the lievolittinn (Drayton), vol. II, 110, 120. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 93 

fratricidal strife which later drenched this fair land in 
blood. It was not, however, entirely to the advantage of 
Major Williamson's party ; for the other was composed 
of much more discordant materials than his own, and 
could not have been kept inactively together. It w^as 
observed that none of those who had signed the treaty of 
Ninety-Six with Mr. Drayton took any open part in this 
rising except McLaurin. Colonel Fletchall, it is true, was 
charged with privately encouraging it. The whole enter- 
prise of this heterogeneous mass calling themselves King's 
men — some acting upon principle and more perhaps from 
timidity, believing the story of the Indians in the affidavit 
of Pearis — ? was based upon the belief that Major Will- 
iamson's party would immediately surrender and submit. 
Without a leader capable of controlling them by influence 
or authority, and every officer tliinking himself on a foot- 
ing with i\Iajor Robinson, the head of the expedition, the 
party soon fell to pieces. 

In the meanwhile Matthew Floyd, the messenger sent 
by Major Robinson to Lord William Campbell under the 
terms of the treaty, arrived in Charlestown and applied to 
the Council of Safety for permission to repair to his Lord- 
ship on board the British man-of-war, declaring that lie 
liad lost his dispatches, and therefore it was necessary he 
should himself give his Excellency accounts of the trans- 
action at Ninety-Six. This story of the loss of his dis- 
patches naturally created suspicion, and the Council of 
Safety in allowing him to go to his Excellency required 
tliat he should be accompanied by one Mr. Merchant 
on the part of the Council, who was required to be pres- 
ent at any interview and conversation between Lord Will- 
iam and Floyd. But notwithstanding Mr. Merchant's 
remonstrance, as soon as Floyd was on board Lord Will- 
iam took him down into his cabin, where, with Innes his 



94 HISTOUV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

secretary, they had a private interview ; and upon its con- 
clusion Innes informed Mr. Merchant that his Lordship 
desired he woukl return and inform those wlio had sent 
him that Floyd was a messenger from a friend of the 
government and must be detained until his Lordship had 
determined on his answer. Upon this the Council, indig- 
nant at the conduct of the Governor, issued an order for 
the arrest of Floyd upon his landing from the man-of-war ; 
and, accordingly, two days after, upon his attempting 
secretly to pass through the town at night, he was seized 
and taken before that body. There he was examined, and 
it was drawn from him that Lord William had directed 
him to tell those Avho sent him " to do everything they 
could for the best advantage — that he did not desire any 
effusion of blood, but whatever they should do would 
meet with his concurrence." A weaker and more mis- 
chievous message it is difficult to conceive ; but surely 
the Council having received the messenger sent by the 
King's friends under a treaty made by Williamson and 
Mayson their officers, good faith demanded that he should 
be allowed to return and deliver his Lordship's message, 
whether that message was for peace or war. But the 
Council took a different view and put Floyd in jail.^ 

In the meanwhile Colonel Richardson had commenced 
his march under the orders of the Council and was direct- 
ing his course toward Colonel Fletchall's command over 
the Broad River; but learning of Williamson's invest- 
ment, he changed his direction and proceeded by forced 
marches to the Congaree River, which he crossed. By the 
3d of November his force had increased to fifteen hundred 
men, when calling a council of war it was decided that his 
army was not bound by the treaty of cessation at Ninety- 
Six, and at once made preparation for crossing the Saluda 
^ Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 123, 125. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 95 

into the Dutch Fork.^ This was clearly another violation 
of the treaty ; for Williamson and Mayson had expressly 
stipulated that should reenforcements arrive, they should 
be bound by it. The former leaders of the King's party 
had stood by the stipulations which thc}^ had made with 
Mr. Drayton. None of them except McLaurin were 
found in Robinson's command. It is true that Fletchall 
was suspected of privately encouraging the movement ; 
but this was mere suspicion, ostensibly at least he was 
scrupulously observing his engagement. On the other 
hand, Colonel Richardson, under the government of which 
Mr. Drayton was the President, disregarding the terms 
upon which Williamson and Mayson had been released 
from that siege, marched upon those who, on the faith of 
the treaty, had disbanded their forces. 

On the 2d of December Colonel Richardson pushed for- 
Avard into the Dutch Fork and encamped near McLaurin's 
store, fifteen miles from the Saluda. At this camp several 
of Fletchall's captains were made prisoners, and Colonel 
Richardson issued a proclamation calling upon the inhab- 
itants to deliver up the bodies of Patrick Cuningham, 
Henry O'Neal, and others who had taken the ammunition, 
and those who had taken part in the siege of Ninety-Six ; 
and to deliver up the ammunition taken by Cuning- 
ham, and the arms of all the aiders and abettors of these 
robbers, murderers, and disturbers of the peace. From 
the benefits of the proclamation all capital offenders were 
excluded ; for these just punishment was declared to be 
in store. Here Colonel Richardson was joined by Colonel 
Thomas with 200 men. Colonel Neel with 200, Colonel 
Lyles with 150, which together with Colonel Thomson's 
regiments of Rangers and militia and his own regiment 
made his force amount in the whole to about 2500 men ; 
* Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 123, 125. 



96 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

in addition to whicli Colonel Polk Avas in full march from 
North Carolina with 600 men. 

As Colonel Richardson's army advanced, the King's 
party fell back constantly retreating. They were thor- 
oughly disheartened by the failure of the promises of 
Lord William Campbell and his weak conduct. Occasion- 
ally they would make a stand ; but as soon as Colonel 
Richardson advanced, they would retreat. By the 12tli of 
December Colonel Richardson's army, Avhich then consisted 
of three thousand men, had penetrated far into the interior, 
and had taken several prisoners "of the first magnitude," 
as he described them in the letter to the Council of Safety. 
Among them were Colonel Thomas Fletchall, Captain 
Richard Pearis, and Captain Shuberg. Fletchall was 
found hidden in a large sycamore tree with a hollow seven 
or eight feet wide on Fair Forest Creek, from which he 
was unkennelled by the Rangers and some volunteers under 
Colonel Thomson, who had been sent to scour that part of 
the disaffected district and to beat up Fletchall's quarters.^ 

Richardson pressed forward through all the inclem- 
encies of the winter weather, though his men were thinly 
clothed and indifferently provided. He halted and en- 
camped at Liberty Hill on the line between Newberry and 
Laurens counties, about four or five miles from the Enoree 
River. Here he collected his most important prisoners — 
those reputed to be the most active against the authority 
of the Provincial Congress, and placing them under the 
care of his son Captain Richard Richardson, .Jr., he sent 
them under escort to Charlestown. Having thus divested 
himself of this care, and his force still further increased by 

1 From this time Fletchall disappears from the scene of the Revolu- 
tion. After the fall of Charlestown he was in commission under the 
Crown, and in 1782 his estate was confiscated by the *' Jacksonborough 
Legislature," Sabine's Avi. Ldi/alists, 'J88 ; Statutes of So. Ca., vol. VI, 1. 



IN THE KKVOLUTION 97 

Colonels Rutherford and Graham of North Carolina with 
about five hundred men, and by Major Andrew William- 
son and Captain Hammond with a party of Colonel 
Stephen Bull's regiment amounting to about eight hundred 
men, his whole force now amounting to between four thou- 
sand and five thousand strong, he scoured the whole of the 
upper country, penetrating four miles beyond the Chero- 
kee boundary line to a place called the Great Cane Brake on 
Reedy River. At Cane Brake there was a camp of King's 
men which it was Richardson's object to break up. For 
this purpose he dispatched Colonel Thomson with about 
tliirteen hundred men, who after a tedious march of near 
twenty-three miles on the 21st of December arrived within 
view of the Loyalists' campfires. Toward daylight of the 
22d Thomson moved forward to attack, and had nearly 
surrounded the camp when his men were discovered ; and 
a fight immediately took place. Patrick Cuningham 
escaped on a horse bareback, telling every one " to 
shift for himself." Great slaughter, it is said, would have 
ensued had not Colonel Thomson prevented it. Five or 
six of Cuningham's men were, however, killed, and one 
hundred and thirty were taken prisoners. Of Colonel 
Thomson's troops none were killed and only one was 
wounded. 

Colonel Richardson now regarding the object of the 
campaign as accomplished, dismissed the North Carolina 
troops and breaking up his camp marched homewards. 
From the snow which fell in the latter part of the expe- 
dition it was called the " Snow Campaign." ^ The cam- 
paign was supposed to have completely broken up the 
King's party in the upper country, but its success to this 
extent was only apparent. 

While Colonel Richardson was thus putting down the 
* Memoirs of the lievohition (Drayton), vol. II, 126, 132. 

VOL. III. — u 



98 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

opposition in the interior, the ship of war Seorpioyi arrived, 
having on board Governor Josiah Martin of North Caro- 
lina, who, like Lord William Campbell, had fled from his 
government. There were then two British Governors in 
Charlestown harbor on board the British fleet, which con- 
sisted of three ships of war, — the Tamar, the Cherokee^ 
and the Scorpion. 

Lord William Campbell was a weak man, but he was 
no coward. He had formerly been in the British navy 
and had commamded a vessel on the coast of Carolina and 
was familiar with naval affairs. Having now three men- 
of-war in the harbor, Captain Tolemache of the Scorpion 
and his Lordship proposed an attack upon Fort Johnson, 
but Captain Tliornbrough of the Tamar declined to join 
in it, not believing that his ship could lie before the guns 
of the fort. Captain Tolemache, disappointed in this 
project, determined in some other way to distress the 
people who, he said, were in active rebellion. Accordingly, 
on the 6th of December, he seized two merchant sloops 
inward bound and regularly cleared, the one from St. 
Kitts and the other from Jamaica. On board the sloop 
from St. Kitts was a sum of money in specie, belonging 
to Messrs. Samuel and Benjamin Legare of Charlestown. 
This money Captain Tolemache turned over to Lord Will- 
iam Campbell. Upon learning of this the gentlemen to 
whom the money belonged determined upon reprisal, and 
with a party of the light infantry company of which they 
were melnbers seized and carried away from Lord Will- 
iam's residence his chariot and horses. Learning of this 
the Council at once summoned the parties before them, and 
having heard them repudiated their conduct and ordered 
the chariot and horses returned to Lady Campbell. They 
were accordingly sent to her by the messenger of the 
Council, but that lady indignantly refused to receive 



IN THE REVOLUTION 99 

them. Now that Lord William Campbell had deserted his 
post and abandoned his friends in the province, some of 
them were inclined to conciliate the powers that he had 
left in possession of the government. Among others, 
Fenwicke Bull, into whose balcony the mob that had 
tarred and featliered the gunner of Fort Johnson had 
flung a bag of feathers, telling him to keep them until his 
turn had come, seems to have been of this opinion, and 
having been sent to make a notarial demand of the cap- 
tured vessels and the money belonging to the Legares, on 
his return reported the conversation which had passed 
between Lord William, Captain Tolemache, and himself. 
From tliis it appeared that Captain Tolemache had, on his 
arrival, proposed to attack Fort Johnson, and would have 
done so, he avowed, if it had cost the lives of fifty men, 
and laid the town in ashes. He expected a reenforcement 
of two frigates and a bomb vessel, and he declared the 
town would surely be destroyed. He avowed the seizure 
of the Legare money, but said that it had been delivered 
to Lord William, whose receipt he had for it. Lord 
William, on the contrary, declared that he had nothing to 
do with the money or the seizure. Upon this the Council 
of Safety gave the Legares permission to sell the chariot 
and horses to reimburse themselves for their money in 
Lord William's hands. Lady Campbell withdrew on the 
15th of December, and retired to her husband on board 
the Cherokee.'^ 

Wishing, as it was said, to give some energy to the 
naval preparations which were going on about this time, 
and which it required an influential character to jDromote, 
the Council, as it did in every instance, turned to Mr. 
Drayton, and, notwithstanding that he was the President 
of the Provincial Congress, and as such the chief executive 
^ Memoirs of the Eevulutiim (Drayton), vol. II, 158, 161. 
l.ofC. 



100 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of tlie province, he was now appointed by tluit body to be 
" captain and commander of the Prosjyer for the protec- 
tion of the harbor of C/harle.stown." It is true, observes 
his son, the editor of his Memoirs, Mr. Drayton's liberal 
education in Europe had been very different from one of 
sea affairs, on which account liis appointment was thought 
somewhat extraordinary ; but the Council of Safety had 
their reason for so doing, and were satisfied they thereby 
promoted the public service. Moultrie, in his Memoirs^ 
ridicules the appointment, and says that while INIr. Dray- 
ton was a gentleman of great abilities and warm in the 
American cause, he was no sailor, and did not know any 
one rope from another. ^ It is very evident that in the 
absence of Christopher Gadsden, who was in attendance 
on the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, Mr. Drayton 
controlled the Revolutionary party in South Carolina. 
Besides Christopher Gadsden, the other delegates — Henry 
Middleton, Thomas Lynch, and the two Rutledges, John 
and Edward — were in Philadelphia, and without their 
restraining influence William Henry Drayton and Arthur 
Middleton were rushing on at a pace with which Henry 
Laurens could not keep up, nor could Rawlins Lowndes 
resist, however much he might hesitate to approve. 

Having charged Mr. Drayton — Captain Drayton, as 
he was now styled — • with the duty of cutting off com- 
munication with the fleet, the Committee of Safety now 
turned their attention to making the positions of the 
British men-of-war so uncomfortable as to compel them 
to move, if not leave the harbor. Two members were 
appointed to reconsider the subject of erecting a battery 
on Haddrell's Point, and, of course, we may be sure that 
William Henry Drayton was one ; Dr. David Oliphant 
was the other. They made a favorable report, as was to 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 111. 



IN THP] KEVOLUTION 101 

have been expected, whereupon the Council of Safety is- 
sued orders to Colonel Moultrie to confer with Mr. Dray- 
ton and Dr. Olipliant upon the subject. ^ However restive 
Colonel Moultrie may have been at this supervision and 
control of civil officers over military matters of which he 
might naturally consider himself the better judge, he made 
no question, but entered heartily into the preparations for 
the movement. Major Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was 
detailed for the purpose witli a detachment of four cap- 
tains, eight subalterns, and two hundred rank and file, with 
a number of mechanics and laborers. Colonel Moultrie 
and many gentlemen volunteers passed over with the 
party on the night of the 19th of December, and on land- 
ing at Haddrell's Point they fell to work with such spirit 
that by daylight the battery was so far progressed that 
the party were covered from the shot of the ships, and in 
a few hours more their guns were mounted and fire opened 
at about a mile's distance, with a few shots from the eigh- 
teen-pounders. The men-of-war immediately moved their 
stations and fell back opposite Sullivan's Island. Having 
successfully forced the British ships from their position, 
and obtained command of the cove so as to secure posses- 
sion of Sullivan's Island, the next move was to erect a 
fort there which would compel another move on the part 
of the fleet. A force of fifty men from each of the two 
regiments was, on the 10th of January, 1776, thrown upon 
the island for this purpose, the appearance of which accom- 
plished the purpose. As soon as the captains of the sloop 
of war discovered that the Carolinians had got possession 
of the island and were building a battery, they raised 
anchors and left the port, taking with them the last Royal 
Governor of South Carolina. 

The day after, i.e. the 11th, two other British men-of- 
1 Memoirs of tlw licvolution (Drayton), vol. II, 163-184. 



102 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

war, the Syren of twenty-eight and the Raven of eighteen 
guns, appeared off the bar and sent a barge in to procure 
intelligence.^ The boat was fired upon from Fort John- 
son. Finding that the fort was in the possession of the 
provincials, and that the sloops of war had departed, the 
boat returned to the British ship over the bar, threatening, 
however, to come back with the first fair wind and tide. 

1 Memoirs of the Bevolution (Drayton), vol. II, 104, 105. 



CHAPTER VI 

1776 

The Provincial Congress which had adjourned on the 
29th of November, 1775, now met on the 1st of February, 
1776, and sooji after Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, 
and Christopher Gadsden returned from PhiLidelphia and 
presented a manuscript copy of the journal of the Conti- 
nental Congress up^to that time. 

The colonies had defied and overthrown the Royal and 
Proprietary governments, but as yet they had set up no 
formal government in their stead. The Continental Con- 
grass had assumed and exercised several powers which 
were incidental only to sovereignty. It had issued 
money, issued letters of marque and reprisal, and organ- 
ized armies, but as yet there was no executive or organized 
government. Nor was there any more formal govern- 
ment in the several colonies themselves ; there was no 
governor, nor courts, nor judges. Provincial congresses 
or assemblies governed the various colonies by commit- 
tees and councils. 

The first Congress, or Convention, in South Carolina 
which had assembled on the 6th of July, 1774, under the 
Exchange, had been summoned by a number of " principal 
gentlemen " of Charlestown to whom the Boston circular 
had been sent, and they in their turn had summoned the 
" principal gentlemen " in other parts of the province, who 
were in accord with the movement, and they or their 
friends had come. The body thus assembled had no 
constitutional authority whatever, nor was it a truly rep- 

103 



104 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

resentative one. It was not the result of any general 
election or choice of the people. There had been no pre- 
liminary discussion or consideration whether or not they 
would have such a convention. It was indeed but a 
voluntary meeting of private citizens. This body had 
usurped the government and had by its general com- 
mittee actually governed the colony for six months, not- 
withstanding that Lieutenant Governor Bull was present 
nominally doing so. Then the General Committee had 
ordered an election which had been held under its aus- 
pices, and the Congress so chosen had ordered a second 
election, in August, 1775, which took place so far indeed 
as it was held at all, amidst the confusion and disturbances 
of the time; and at that election the members of the present 
Congress had been chosen. Of the merits of these elections 
we have spoken in a former volume. ^ The body last 
elected and now sitting had, by its Council of Safety, 
general committees, and other committees and commis- 
sions, continued the exercise of the functions of govern- 
ment, and had administered the affairs of the province in 
defiance of the Royal authority. This condition of things 
Lord William Campbell had himself, to some extent, coun- 
tenanced ; for though after some vacillation he had refused 
to receive officially the address of the Congress as a body, 
upon his arrival he had, nevertheless, complied with its 
recommendations and commissioned officers of the volun- 
teer companies raised by it. On the other hand, the 
Council of Safety while carrying matters with a very 
high hand in most things were still chary in the exercise 
of prerogatives of sovereignty in matters which would 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. under Hoy. Gov. (McCrady), 75.")-702, 70.i. No 
Ms. journals of either of these bodies can be found. Our information in 
regard to them is derived from the Gazrttr, occasional printed extracts of 
journals, and Drayton's Memoirs. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 105 

remain of record. Especially were they apprehensive 
that the giving of commissions, stamping and issuing 
money, and the giving orders to the military might 
thereafter be regarded as acts of treason, and as some of 
them often said they felt as if they were transacting busi- 
ness with halters about their necks — straining at this 
gnat they would not give commissions to the military 
olficers, but certificates only. But now that Lord Will- 
iam Campbell, having first dissolved the General Assem- 
bly, had gone, taking with him the great seal of the 
province, and all the members of the Council having also 
departed, it became necessary to establish some more for- 
mal government. 

As early as June 2, 1775, the Provincial Convention of 
Massachusetts had addressed a letter to the Continental 
Congress, setting forth the difficulties they had labored 
under for want of a regular form of government, and ask- 
ing its advice respecting the taking up and exercising the 
powers of civil government, and declaring the readiness 
of their people to submit to such a general plan as the 
Congress might direct for the colonies or themselves, to 
establish one for Massachusetts. The subject was one 
upon which there was great division of opinion, and was 
approached with dread and apprehension. John Adams 
declares that it was his opinion that Congress ought at 
once to recommend to the people of every colony to call 
such conventions immediately and set up governments of 
their own, under their own authority, for the people were 
the source of all authority and original of all power. He 
says that these were new and terrible doctrines to the most 
of the members, but that a few heard them with appar- 
ent pleasure, and none more than j\Ir. John Rutledge of 
South Carolina and Mr. John Sullivan of New Hampshire. 

The letter of the Massachusetts Convention was referred 



106 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ill the Continental Congress to a committee of which John 
llutledge was chairman, who, on June 9, reported a resolu- 
tion which was adopted, declaring that as the Governor 
and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts would not 
observe the directions of the ancient charter of that col- 
ony, they were to be considered as absent and their offices 
vacant ; and as there was no council there and the incon- 
veniences arising from the suspension of the powers of 
government were intolerable, especially at a time when 
General Gage had actually levied war and was carrying 
on hostilities against his Majesty's peaceable and loyal 
subjects of that colony : — 

" That in order to conform as near as may be to the spirit and sub- 
stance of the charter it be recommended to the Pi'ovincial Convention 
to write letters to the iniiabitants of the several places which are enti- 
tled to representation in Assembly^ requesting them to choose such 
representatives and that the Assembly when chosen do elect coun- 
sellors, and that such Assembly or Council exercise the power of gov- 
ernment until a (iovernor of his Majesty's appointment will consent 
to govern the colony according to its charter." i 

Mr. Adams represents John llutledge as agreeing Avith 
him in his desire to have separate and independent gov- 
ernments set up. This proposed scheme of government 
it will be observed, however, was but a temporary one. 
It looked to a future reconciliation, and was to last only 
until a governor of his Majesty's appointment would con- 
sent to govern the colony according to the charter of the 
colony. 

The subject was again renewed in the Continental Con- 
gress in October upon the presentation by the delegates 
from New liampsliire of their instructions to obtain the 

' Printed Extracts from Joiirnal of Pmvincial Coug7'ess of So. Ca. ; 
The Life and Works of John Adams, vol. Ill, l-'3, 17 ; Marshall's Life of 
Washington, vol. II, 220, 221. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 107 

advice and direction of the Congress with respect to a 
method of administering justice and regulating civil 
affairs, when John Rutledge, who, Mr. Adams says, was 
then completely with him in his desire to revolutionize all 
the governments, brought forward immediately some rep- 
resentations from his own State, and submitted several 
papers relating to the subject. These were referred to a 
committee of which Mr. Harrison of Virginia was chair- 
man, and upon their report on the 4th of November it 
was — 

"Resolved, that if the convention of South Carolina shall find it 
necessary to establish a form of government in that colony, it he 
recommended to that convention to call a full and free representation 
of the people, and that this said representation, if they think it neces- 
sary, shall establish such a form of government as in their judgment 
will produce the happiness of the people and most effectually secure 
peace and good order in the colony during the continuance of the 
present dispute between Great Britain and the colonies."^ 

Mr. Adams represents that this resolution was carried 
through by Mr. John Rutledge and himself, that while it 
was under consideration he labored to expunge the words 
" colony " and " colonies," and insert the words " State " 
and " States," and to have the word " dispute " to make 
way for that of " war " ; " but," he adds, " the child was 
not yet weaned." ^ We may be quite sure that John Rut- 
ledge did not go with him in his efforts to have these 
changes made, nor can we believe that he was for " revo- 
lutionizing all the governments." We shall soon see him 
expressing himself most strongly upon this subject, and 
insisting that the government set up under this resolu- 
tion of the Continental Congress was but a temporary 

1 Memoirs of the. UevohUion (Drayton), 171. Printed Extracts from 
Journal of Prni'incial C'in/jress of So. Car., 21. 

2 Life and Works of John Adams, vol. Ill, 20, 21. 



108 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

one, "until an acconimodiition of the unhappy differ- 
ences between Great Britain and America can be ob- 
tained." 

The Continental Congress apparently understood the 
condition of things in South Carolina, and was appre- 
hensive of the danger and insecurity of a government 
organized by but a few individuals, " principal gentlemen " 
though they might be, without the popular assent ascer- 
tained in some more direct and authoritative manner and 
in which so large a part of the province was practically 
without representation ; it had therefore recommended, as 
we have seen, that if the Convention of South Carolina 
should find it necessary to establish a form of government, 
that it " call a full and free representation of the people " 
to " establish such a one as in their judgment would best 
produce the happiness of the people and most effectually 
secure peace and good order in the colony during the 
continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain 
and the colonies." On the 3d of February, 1776, this 
resolution of the Continental Congress was referred to a 
committee consisting of the members of the Council of 
Safety, to whom were added William Henry Drayton, of 
course, and Colonel George Gabriel Powell and Major 
Charles Cotes worth Pinckney. 

On the 10th of February Colonel Laurens from this 
committee brought in a report, and an attempt was made 
to secure its immediate consideration ; but many members 
opposed such hasty action ; some because they were not 
prepared for so decisive a measure, and others on the 
broader ground which had been suggested by the resolu- 
tion of the Continental Congress that the present members 
were not vested with that power by the })eople. In this 
debate Colonel CJadsden, having bronglit the first copj' of 
Paine's pumplilet entitled Common /Sense, boldly declared 



IN THE llE\'OLUTION 109 

himself not only in favor of setting up a government, 
but for the absolute independence of America. 

This declaration, says Drayton in his Memoirs^ came 
like an explosion of thunder upon the members. There 
had been no intimation of such a purpose, there was 
nothing in the resolution of the Continental Congress 
upon wliich the report for a form of government was 
grounded to suggest such a purpose. That the contro- 
versy with the mother country might lead to such a 
revolutionary attempt had been anticipated and dreaded 
by many from its very inception, but few at the time 
were prepared to meet the issue. John Rutledge warmly 
reproved Colonel Gadsden, pronounced the opinion trea- 
sonable, and declared he abhorred the idea ; he was willing, 
he said, to ride post by day and night to Philadelphia to 
assist in reuniting Great Britain and America. ^ Paine, 
the autlior of the pamphlet, was denounced and cursed. 
Even the few who were ready for independence regretted 
Gadsden's sudden and inopportune declaration. The 
Congress, however, in committee of the whole, agreed to 
report "that in their opinion the present mode of coji- 
ducting affairs is inadequate to the well governing the 
good people of the colony ; and many regulations are 
wanting for securing peace and good order during the 
unhappy disputes between Great Britain and the colonies ; 
and that the Congress should immediately take under 
consideration wliat regulations are necessary for these 
good purposes."^ 

On the next day the report was unanimously confirmed. 
It expressl}' negatived, it will be observed, the idea of inde- 
pendence, declaring that the regulations to be adopted 
were only intended to secure peace and good order dur- 

1 Drayton's Memoirs, vol. II, 172; Johnson's Traditions, 41. 

2 rriutod Extracts from Journal, 25. 



110 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ing the nnliappy dispute between Great Britain and the 
colonies. A committee of eleven was chosen by ballot to 
prepare and report such a plan or form of government. 
The committee as composed, represented all shades of 
opinion, but the Conservative party had a decided majority 
upon it. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who had as yet 
taken no decided position with either party, but was 
already in the military service, ready for war if necessary, 
was made chairman. The moderate men were represented 
by John llutledge, Charles Pinckney, Henry Laurens, 
Rawlins Lowndes, Henry Middleton, Thomas Bee, and 
Thomas Heyward, Jr. The extremists by Christopher 
Gadsden and Arthur Middleton, with Thomas Lynch, Jr., 
disposed to act with them.^ 

The committee having reported, the Congress on the 
5th of March took up the matter for consideration. Mr. 
Lowndes and those who were with him in opinion ear- 
nestly strove for putting off what they thouglit the evil 
day. They urged that the recommendation of the Con- 
tinental resolution should be observed, and that "a full 
and free representation of the province " should be sum- 
moned to consider so important a measure as the adoption 
of a new form of government, even though it should be 
but a temporary one. To this sound objection was 
answered the usual argument of those in power. They 
said that the Congress only aimed at the happiness and 
good order of the colony, of which they were as com- 
petent to judge as others ; that they constituted as full 
and free a representation as if a new Congress was called, 
and that time pressed, and they had none to lose. 

The extreme conservatives fought the plan of govern- 
ment proposed step by stej), and made every effort iov 

1 Printed Extracts from Journal, 2G, 27 ; Memoirs of the licvohition 
(Drayton), vol. II, 174. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 111 

postponing its consideration, but without avail. The 
8th of March was finally determined upon when the 
Congress would take the matter into consideration in 
committee of the whole. From that day until the 21st 
of March it was discussed day by day. To avoid using 
the same titles as those under the Royal governments, 
the style of a President was substituted for Governor, and 
that of Vice President in the place of Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor. It was decided that this Congress was " a full 
and free representation of the people," and was thence- 
forth to be deemed and called the General Assembly of 
South Carolina. A Legislative Council of thirteen mem- 
bers was substituted for the former King's Privy Council.^ 
and the Vice President was to be a member and President 
of it. The legislative authority was vested in the General 
Assembly and the Legislative Council ; an assembly was 
to be elected every two years. 

There was a struggle over the clause that this Congress 
being " a full and free representation of the people shall 
henceforth be called the General Assembly of South Caro- 
lina," but after some debate the opposition to it was 
defeated. No division appears to have been had on this 
question, so that we have no record of the numbers vot- 
ing, but upon one just after, in relation to the Legislative 
Council, the Congress divided, by which it appeared that 
but seventy members out of a body consisting of one 
hundred and ninety voted. What had become of all tlie 
other members? Had they been warned that so impor- 
tant a measure would be introduced ? 

With less than two-fifths of the House apparently pres- 
ent, less than a fourth of its members declare that being 
" a full and free representation of the people," they shall 
henceforth constitute a regular government. Well might 
Mr. Lowndes strive to postpone action, and induce those 



112 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

gentlemen of the Low Country to allow a representative 
body to be called before this attempt was made to set up 
a government over the whole province. Colonel Richard- 
son had just returned from his triumphal progress through 
the upper section : was not this the very time to have 
called upon the people of the whole province to take part 
in inaugurating a regular, if but a temporar}', government? 
Had Cxadsden and Drayton and Middleton listened to the 
advice of the Continental Congress and to the pro- 
test of jNIr. Lowndes, the fratricidal strife which followed 
might possibly have been averted. Of their motives we 
have now no sufficient data to form a correct opinion. 
That Christopher Gadsden was a true patriot and a 
sincere man there can be no doubt, but his wisdom as 
a leader must be seriously questioned, even if our con- 
sideration is restricted to this question alone. It was 
alike an opportunity and a necessity that in setting up 
this new government all parts of the province should be 
fully and freely consulted, and represented. But these 
gentlemen, the leaders of the Revolutionary party, could 
not realize that in the twenty years since Braddock's defeat 
another people had come into the province, who now far 
outnumbered those on the coast. 

The moderate men had fought this proposed constitu- 
tion step by step and might have defeated it, for they 
were continuing their opposition to it, when, on the 21st 
of March, an express brought from Savannah a copy of 
an act of Parliament passed on the 21st of December, 
1775, which had just arrived there, declaring the colonies 
in actual rebellion, authorizing tlie capture of American 
vessels, and legalizing all seizures of the persons and 
property and of damages done to the colonies before the 
passing of the act. The receipt of this act silenced, in 
a great measure, the opposition, and greatly advanced the 



IN THE REVOLUTION 113 

measures of the Revolutionary party. On the 24th John 
Rutledge, from the committee to prepare a phm or form 
of government, made another report, greatly enlarging the 
preamble to the proposed constitution as to American 
grievances and British oppressions. The original pre- 
amble Avhich had been reported by the committee was a 
short one, it being deemed unadvisable to go too much 
into the details of grievances about which there was so 
much diiference of opinion. But the arrival of this act of 
Parliament warranted, even in the eyes of moderate men 
like .John Rutledge, more decisive action. The preamble 
reported, which is in his handwriting, reiterates at length 
the causes of difference between the mother country and 
the colonies ; and declares that since Lord William Camp- 
bell, the late Governor, had dissolved the General Assem- 
bly on the 15th of September, and no other had been called, 
although by law the setting and holding of general assem- 
blies could not be intermitted above six months, and had 
withdrawn himself from the colony ; and since the judges 
of the courts of law had refused to exercise their respec- 
tive functions, it had become indispensably necessary that 
during the present situation of American affairs, and 
until an acconnnodation of the unhaj)py differences be- 
tween Great Britain and America could be obtained, " an 
event which though traduced and treated as rebels we 
still earnestly desire," some mode should be established 
by common consent and for the good of the people — the 
origin and end of all government for regulating the 
internal polity of the colony. Thereupon, it was first 
resolved " That this Congress being a full and free repre- 
sentation of the people of this colony, shall henceforth he 
deemed and called the General Assembly of South Carolina, 
and as such shall continue until the twenty-first day of Octo- 
ber next and no longer.''^ Provision was made for the elec- 

VOL. III. — 1 



114 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tion of a Legislative Council by the General Assembly out 
of their own body, and of a President and Vice President, 
and the legislative authority was vested in the Presi- 
dent, General Assembly, and Legislative Council. A new 
election was to be held on the last Monday in October 
following, and on the same day in every second year 
thereafter for members of the General Assembly to meet 
on the first Monday in December, and to continue for 
two years. The number of the General Assembly as 
fixed by this constitution was two hundred and two. Of 
this number the parishes of St. Philip's and St. Michael, 
wdiich composed Charlestown, were allotted thirty mem- 
bers, and the other eighteen parishes, excluding St. ALirk's, 
six each. The Low Country, then, was to have one hun- 
dred and thirty-eight members, more than two-thirds of the 
whole number of representatives. To the rest of the prov- 
ince sixty-four members were allowed. The district east- 
w^ard of the Wateree, that is, what had been known as St. 
Mark's Parish, now the counties of Clarendon, Sumter, Ker- 
shaw, and Lancaster, was allowed ten members ; Ninety- 
Six, ten; Saxe-Gotha, six. The district between the Broad 
and Saluda, that is, the present counties of Newberry, 
Laurens, Union, and Spartanburg, was allowed twelve. 
That between the Broad and Catawba, that is, the present 
counties of Richland, Fairfield, and Chester, was allowed 
ten. The New Acquisition, that is, the present county of 
York, was allowed ten. The district between the Savan- 
nah and North Edisto, the upper part of wdiat had been 
included in Prince William's Parish, now the counties of 
Barnwell, Aiken, and Edgefield, was allowed six members. 
On Tuesday, the 2(3tli of March, the new Constitution 
was adopted, and it was ordered " that the President of 
this Congress do sign the same and also the Secretary " : 
which having been done, the members made cluiice of 



IN THE REVOLUTION 115 

William Henry Drayton to be tlieir chairman, by whom 
they were adjourned as a General Assembly to meet at 
four o'clock in the afternoon. At this hour having re- 
assembled, the Congress, now called a General Assembly, 
first proceeded to the choice of a Legislative Council, and 
elected Charles Pinckney, Henry Middleton, Ricliard 
Richardson, Rawlins Lowndes, Le Roy Hammond, Henry 
Laurens, David Oliphant, Thomas Ferguson, Stephen 
Bull, George Gabriel Powell, Thomas Bee, Josepli Ker- 
shaw, and Thomas Shubrick. 

The General Assembly and Legislative Council then 
proceeded under the provisions of the Constitution to 
choose by ballot a President and Commander-in-chief and 
a Vice President. And no better selections could have 
been made than John Rutledge, who Avas chosen Presi- 
dent, and Henry Laurens Vice President. Both of these 
gentlemen Avere earnest in the maintenance of what they 
conceived to be their rights as English-born freemen ; 
but neither was prepared for separation from the mother 
country. They both represented the real sentiment of 
at least the most substantial people in the colony. 

They were English AVhigs, seeking the redress of their 
grievances by constitutional means, and in maintaining 
which they Avere prepared to shed their blood if necessary, 
as many Englishmen had done before ; but neither was 
in favor of the New England idea of independence. Had 
Christopher Gadsden been elected after his declaration 
in favor of a complete separation from England, there can 
be little doubt that the revolutionary movement Avould 
have ended then in the disruption of the party. But 
John Rutledge was known to be opposed to a separation 
from the mother country. Henry iNIiddleton and himself 
liad been acceptable to all parties at the first election for 
delegates to the Continental Congress in July in 1774, 



116 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

because on the one hand they liad been known to be firm 
in the maintenance of the rights of the colonies, but on 
the other opposed to any radical changes in their relation 
to the Crown. This position John Rutledge had consist- 
ently maintained, and in the draft of the preamble to the 
Constitution first adopted he had been careful to assert 
that it was adopted during " the present situation of Ameri- 
can affairs and until an accommodation of the unhappy 
differences between Great Britain and America can he ob- 
tained^" an event which that instrument declared, though 
traduced and treated as rebel, the people yet earnestly 
desired. Again in replying to the congratulatory address 
of the Assembly upon his election he declared that no 
man would embrace a just and equitable accommodation 
witli Great Britain more gladly than himself. But he 
was not content even with these declarations ; in his 
address upon the adjournment of the Assembly he took 
occasion to be still more explicit. 

"Show your constituents then," he said, "the indispensable neces- 
sity which there was for establishing- some mode of government in 
this colony; the benefits of that which a full and free representation 
has established, and that the consent of the people is the origin and 
the happiness the end of government. Remove the apprehension 
with which honest and well-meaning but weak and credulous minds 
may be alarmed and prevent ill impressions by artful and designing 
enemies. Let it he known that this Constitution is hut temporary, till an 
accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and 
America can he ohtained ; and that such an event is still desired hy men 
who yet rememher former friendships and intimate connections, though 
for defending their persons and properties they are stigmatized and treated 
as rebels." 

This position he steadily maintained with but a tem- 
porary exception, and when two years later another Con- 
stitution was adopted by the General Assembly, he vetoed 
it under the power now conferred upon him because it, as 



IN THE REVOLUTION 117 

he construed it, closed the door to a reconciliation with 
the mother country. 

On the other hand, William Henry Drayton, who had 
been elected Chief Justice, seized upon the opportunity of 
liis charge to the grand jury at the first term of the court 
of sessions held at Charlestown to declare for absolute inde- 
pendence, as Gadsden had done in the Assembly. After 
explaining to the grand jury some of their common and 
general duties, he proceeded to expound to them the new 
Constitution. 

" The House of Brunswick," he said, " was yet scarcely settled in 
the British throne to which it had been called by a free people, when, 
in the year 1719, our ancestors in this country, finding that the gov- 
ernment of the Lords Proprietors operated to their ruin, exercised the 
rights transmitted to them by their forefathers of England, and cast- 
ing off the Proprietary authority called upon the House of Brunswick 
to rule over them — a House elevated to the royal dominion for no 
other purpose than to preserve to a people their unalienable rights. 
The King accepted the invitation and thereby indisputably admitted 
the legality of that revolution. And in so doing, by his own act, he 
vested in our forefathers and in us, their posterity, a clear right to 
effect another revolution if ever the government of this House of 
Brunswick should operate to the ruin of the people. So the excel- 
lent Roman Empeior Trajan delivered a sword to Saburanus, his 
captain of the Praetorian Guard, with this admirable sentence, ' Re- 
ceive this sword and use it to defend me if I govern well, but against 
me if I behave ill.' " 

The Chief Justice was perhaps not aware how completely 
he was fulfilling the prophecy of Colonel Rhett when he 
wrote in 1719, " If the revolt is not crop't in the bud, they 
will set up for themselves against his Majesty." ^ His 
honor proceeded : — 

" With joyful acclamations our ancestors by act of assembly passed 
on the 18th day of August, Xl'll, recognized the British Monarch, the 

' Hist, of So. Ca. under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 3. 



118 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

virtues of the Second George are still revered among us — /ie was the 
father of his people, and it was witli extacy we saw his grandson, 
George III, mount the throne, possessed of the hearts of his subjects. 

"But alas! almost with the commencement of his reign, his sub- 
jects felt causes to complain of government. The reign advanced — 
the grievances became more numerous and intolerable, the complaints 
more general and loud — tlie whole empire resounded with the cries 
of injured subjects! At length grievances being unredressed and 
ever increasing, all patience being borne down, all hope destroyed, 
all confidence in Royal government blasted ! Behold the empire is 
rent from pole to pole ! perhaps to continue asunder forever ! 

" The catalogue of our oppressions, continental and local, is enor- 
mous. Of such oppressions I will mention only some of the most 
weighty. 

" Under color of law the King and Parliament of Great Britain 
have made the most arbitrary attempts to enslave America ; 

" By claiming the right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever ; 

" By laying duties at their mere will and pleasure upon all the 
colonies ; 

" By suspending the Legislature of New York ; 

"By rendering the American charters of no validity, having annulled 
the most material parts of the charter of the Massachusetts Bay ; 

"By divesting multitudes of the colonists of their property without 
legal accusation or trial ; 

"By depriving whole colonies of the bounty of Providence on their 
own proper coasts, in order to coerce them by famine ; 

"By restricting the trade and commerce of America; 

"By sending to and continuing in America in time of peace an 
armed force, without, and against the consent of the people ; 

"By granting impunity to a soldiery instigated to nmrder the 
Americans; 

" By declaring that the people of Massachusetts Bay are liable for 
offences or pretended offences done in tliat colony, to be sent to and 
tried for the same in England or in anij colon// irhere they cannot hare 
the benefit of a Jury of the ricinage ; 

" By establishing in Quebec the Roman Catholic Religion and an 
arbitrary government, instead of the Protestant Religion and a free 
government." 

Then after elaborating these charges and comparing 
with great detail the causes of this with the famous Kevolu- 



IN THK REVOLUTION 119 

tion in England in the year 1G88, his honor thus con- 
chided liis charge : — 

"The Almight}' created America to be independent of Britain; let 
us beware of tlie impiety of being backward to act as instrnments in 
the Ahnighty liand now extended to accomplish his purpose ; and by 
tlie completion of which alone America in the nature of human affairs 
can be secure against the craft and insidious designs of her enemies 
who tliink her prosperity already by far too great. In a word, our 
piety and political safety are so blended that to refuse our labours 
in this divine work is to refuse to be a great, a free, a pious, and a 
happy people ! " 

The Ahiiighty had indeed created America to be inde- 
pendent of Great Britain, and to be the hmd of a free, a 
pious, and a happy people. To this end under His provi- 
dence all things were working. In the very nature of 
things it was impossible for Parliament in England to 
legislate for this great country three thousand miles away 
— miles which had not yet been shortened by steam and 
electricity. But what argument in the charge had Mr. 
Chief Justice Drayton advanced to influence those of his 
fellow-citizens on the coast who still clung to the love of 
old England beyond their ambition for the future of the 
new country, or to those in the interior who had felt and 
recognized no oppression ? 

In tliis bill of grievances against England which the 
Chief Justice laid before the Grand Jury there was 
notliing which particularly affected their colony but the 
general charge that Parliament claimed tlie right to bind 
the colonies in all cases whatsoever. And in regard to this 
no one in South Carolina, not even Gadsden, had ever 
denied its right to bind them except in the matter of 
taxation. When it was supposed that the Northern 
colonies were inclined to so general a denial of the powers 
of Parliament, Mr. Lowndes had declared that no one in 



120 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

South Carolina admitted the doctrine, and his assertion 
was not challenged. Then in the matter of taxation it 
was open to the friends of the Royal government to 
refer the Chief Justice to his own Letters of Freeman in 
1769, in which he had strenuously maintained this right 
of Parliament in that particular, letters which he had 
republished in London in 1771 with a preface that he did 
so " that in thus creating to them a longer existence than 
what usually falls to the lot of fugitive pieces delivered 
to the channel of a newspaper ; he may thereby preserve 
them as vouchers of the propriety of that political conduct 
which drew on him the censures of those men from whose 
ideas of patriotism unconstitutional schemes started into 
action." Might not they who had then agreed with Mr. 
Drayton refer him to this little book of his as their 
voucher of the propriety of that conduct from which they 
had not been able to change as he had ? He had not only 
left them who still thought as he had done for three years, 
at least, after he had written those letters ; but he was now 
inveighing against his former friends, as he had once done 
against those with whom he was now acting. Nay, more, 
he had outstripped Lowndes and Laurens and Pinckney 
and Rutledge, and was now with Gadsden, his former ad- 
versary, advocating a separation from the mother country. 
It is singular, too, that in justifying the great step the 
Chief Justice does not allude to the real grievances of this 
ct)lony. He does not point out how the native colonists 
had been superseded and set aside by the officials of the 
Board of Trade for the placemen who hung around the 
throne for recognition and reward for questionable service 
rendered. He does not point out to the people of the Up 
Country that it was the wilful neglect and corrupt con- 
duct of that Board in England which had de])rived them 
of courts for the punishment of crime and the mainte- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 121 

nance of justice. He does not remind them that the 
Colonial Assembly on the coast had passed act after act 
for the purpose of providing courts, and that these acts 
had been disallowed in England until the Assembly had 
agreed to buy off Mr. Cumberland, a clerk of the Board 
who held in England the sinecure of the ofhce of High 
Sheriff of the province. In the stead of all tliis he 
appeals to them to declare themselves independent of 
England because New England's fishing trade had been 
iuterfered with and because the legislature of New York 
had been suspended, the charter of Massachusetts altered, 
and the Roman Catholic religion recognized in Quebec. 
But what had the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who with 
the Bible containing their own version of the Psalms were 
enjoying the liberty of conscience in the country they 
were wresting from the Indians, to do with all that? 
Were they for the sake of the New England fishermen 
and the Canadian Protestants to go into a war and expose 
themselves to the inroads of the Indians, and to set up a 
government on the coast which was not yet prepared to 
abandon the Church of England as a church of State ? 
Then, on the other hand, this very matter of church was a 
most delicate one, even in the Low Country. There the 
planters Avere almost all churchmen. Whether from senti- 
ment or piety the whole social and civil fabric was based 
upon the church. It was interwoven with the very 
system of government. And while the Chief Justice was 
appealing to these people from the Bench to go into the 
Revolution, the Rev. Mr. Tennent, the Congregational 
minister who had come from Connecticut, and had been so 
closel}' associated with him in the mission to the interior 
the year before, was urging the abandonment of all con- 
nection between the goverinnent and the church. The 
Chief Justice had nothing to say to the people of the Up 



122 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Country, explaining why they should light for represen- 
tation in the Parliament in England at the bidding of a 
body in which they had had no representation at home. 

It was indeed a great political mistake which the 
small number of the Provincial Congress assembled in 
Charlestown had made when disregarding Mr. Lowndes's 
protest that they did not constitute a full and free repre- 
sentation of the people, as the Continental Congress had 
recommended, they assumed to form a government. It 
may have been that had they waited for such a represen- 
tation, no government would have been founded at all, 
and the revolutionary movement would have been 
checked. But, on the other hand, the action of the few 
who attended that Congress in setting up a government 
without further reference to the people, especiall}^ to those 
of the upper part of the province, added to the opposition 
throughout that most populous section. 

An independent government had existed in South Caro- 
lina since the 8th of July, 1774, when the Congress which 
met under the Exchange in Charlestown appointed an 
executive committee upon whom it conferred executive 
powers until it met again. ^ In the measure now adopted 
South Carolina was the first to set up a formal govern- 
ment in opposition to the King's, and to provide for it a 
constitution. The plan of government now adopted was 
styled A Constitution or Form of Government, but it was 
reallv in no sense a constitution as we in America now 
understand that term, to wit : an instrument emanating 
from the people, — the original source of all power, enacted 
by their immediate representatives chosen for that specific 
purpose, organizing a government, regulating its adminis- 
tration, and defining and limiting its powers, — an instru- 
ment unalterable except by the peo[)le who ordained it in 
J Hist, of So. Ca. under Ron. Gov. (Mi'Crady), 74L 



IN THE REVOLUTION 123 

convention assembled, or in pursuance of specific provi- 
sions indicating and prescribing the form and manner in 
which changes may be made.^ This scheme or plan of 
government did not emanate directly from the people, 
if indeed it can be said to have done so at all. It did not 
purpose to be permanent. It imposed no restriction or 
limitation upon the legislature which adopted it, nor 
upon any succeeding one; and so we shall see the first 
General Assembly elected under its provisions abrogating 
it and by a simple act substituting another. These so- 
called constitutions of 1776 and 1778 should not be re- 
garded as constitutions at all. It is unfortunate that 
they were so styled, thus to give occasion to classing 
South Carolina as a State of many constitutions.'^ These 
instruments were but plans of provisional government 
adopted for the occasion with certainly no more force 
than an ordinary act of the legislature. That of 1776, 
which we are now considering, Avas avowedly of but a 
temporary or provisional nature — to be in force only 
"• until an accommodation of the unhappy differences 
between Great Britain and America can be obtained."^ 

1 Cooley on Constitutional Limitations, 3, 87 ; Potter's Dicarris on 
Statutes and Constitutions, 45, 46. 

2 Professor Bryce in his work on Tlie American Commonwealth, vol.1, 
440, speaking of the conservative tendency of some States and the fre- 
quent changes in the constitution of others, observes that Virginia and 
South Carolina (both original States) have had five constitutions each. 
The truth is South Carolina has had but two constitutions of her own 
voluntary adoption. As stated in the text, the constitutions, so called, of 
177() and 1778 were in no sense constitutions as we now understand the 
term. That of 1790 continued for seventy-five years; though three con- 
ventions of the people were held in that time, it was not changed by 
them. The so-called constitutions of 1865 and 1868 were imposed by the 
Federal government, and enforced through its military authority at 
the end of the war. The constitution of 1700 and that of 1805 are the 
only twn ccmstitutions prt>per voluntarily adopted by the people. 

8 Sldtittcs of So. Ca., vol. I, 128, 137 ; Memoirs of the Revolution 
(Drayton), vol. II, 186. 



124 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

As we have seen, John Kutledge, Henry ^Nliddleton, and 
Christopher Gadsden had returned from Phihidelphia and 
liad given an account of the proceedings of the Continental 
Congress. Henry Middleton, pleading his advancing years, 
declined to return to Congress, and Christopher Gadsden's 
military duties forbade his doing so. The Provincial Con- 
gress had indeed on the 8th of February adopted a resolu- 
tion hastening his return from Philadelphia and desiring 
him to assume the command of the troops to which he had 
been appointed. On the 24th the Congress had gone 
therefore into another election, and reelected John Rut- 
ledge, Thomas Lynch, and Edward Rutledge, and elected 
Arthur Middleton and Thomas Hey ward, Jr., in the place 
of Henry Middleton and Christopher Gadsden. This 
election again balanced the two parties ; for Arthur Mid- 
dleton was one of the progressive party while Thomas 
Heyward was a conservative. Another delegate was 
added. Thomas Lynch had been seized with a paralytic 
affection while in Philadelphia, and his son Thomas 
Lynch, Jr., who was then an officer in Colonel Gadsden's 
regiment, applied for leave of absence to join his father, 
that he might be with him in his illness. But this Colo- 
nel Gadsden, who with the spirit of the Roman would 
have devoted his own son to the cause of his country, 
refused. The matter was speedily arranged by the elec- 
tion of Mr. Thomas Lynch, Jr., as sixth delegate by the 
unanimous vote of the Assembly. He immediately pro- 
ceeded to Philadelphia, where he was able to attend his 
father, and to take his place in the Continental Congress. 

On the 23d of March the Provincial Congress 
resolved — 

" That the delegates of this colony in the Continental Congress, or a 
majoritj/ of them as shall at any time be present in the said Congress, or 
any one of the said delegates if no more than one shall be present, be, and 



IN THE REVOLUTION 125 

they and he are and is hereby authorized and empowered for and in behalf 
of this colony to concert, agree to, and execute every measure which they or 
he, together with a majority of the Continental Congress, shall judge nec- 
essary for the defence, security, interest, or welfare of this colony in par- 
ticular and of America in general." 

Did this resolution authorize and empower our delegates 
to join in a declaration of independence of Great Britain ? 

Gadsden's avowal — in favor of a declaration of the abso- 
lute independence of America — had been made on the 10th 
of February, when, as we are informed by Drayton, it came 
like an explosion, and was regretted as unwise and impru- 
dent by even the few who wished for independence. 
Nothing more had been said upon the subject ; but on 
the 24th, after the resolution for a form of government had 
been agreed to, John Rutledge had reported the new con- 
stitution with a preamble which certainly negatived the 
idea of independence, and in accepting the Presidency 
under it, as we have seen, had again taken the occasion 
to repeat that this was but a temporary measure, intended 
only to continue until a reconciliation could be effected. 
The resolution of instruction to the delegates while there- 
fore extremely broad in its terms, could not be construed 
in the light of this contemporary action as authorizing 
them to commit the colony to a declaration of indepen- 
dence. There can be little doubt that the sense of the 
province was opposed to any such action. 

Mr. Thomas Lynch, Jr., at this time was but twenty- 
seven years of age. He had been sent at the early age of 
fourteen to England for his education. He had passed 
through the school at Eton, had taken his degree at Cam- 
bridge, and had commenced his term at the Temple, but 
had returned in 1772, impatient to take part in the 
momentous questions arising between the colonies and 
the mother country. His first appearance as a public 



126 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

speaker had taken place at a town-meeting at Charles- 
town shortly after his return, and the interest of the occa- 
sion had been much enhanced by his having followed his 
venerable father in the debate. On the organization of 
the provincial regiments in 1775, he had been appointed 
a captain and had, with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
gone at once into North Carolina on a recruiting tour. 
Upon his march back with his company which he had 
completed, he had fallen ill, from the effects of which ill- 
ness he did not recover, and was compelled soon after 
joining in the Declaration of Independence to retire from 
public life. He perished at sea in 1779. 

Soon after the announcement by Christopher Gadsden 
of his readiness for the complete independence of the 
colonies, he assumed the command of the troops in the 
harbor with his headquarters at Fort Johnson — the posi- 
tion which throughout the history of the province had 
been regarded as the key to the defence of the town. 
Now that a formal government had been set up, and a 
distinct defiance of the Crown had been made, it behooved 
the Congress to look well to the defence of the town. On 
the 19tli of February it ordered that lOoO militia should 
be drafted and immediately marched to the defence of tlie 
place. And three days after two more regiments were 
added to the four already organized. Two regiments of 
riflemen were ordered to be raised : one to consist of seven 
companies, and the other of five. Of the first Isaac Huger 
was made colonel, and of the second Thomas Sumter, who, 
we must presume, had stood the test of the " sharp eye " 
Colonel Richardson had promised Mr. Drayton to keep upon 
his conduct, was made Lieutenant Colonel Commandant. ^ 

1 The regular roijiinonts were now tlius olTiceretl : — 
First llctjimcnt of Foot. Colonel : Cliristophcr Giulsden ; T.ieutenant 
Colonel: Cliarles Cotesworth I'iuckiiey ; Major: William Caltell. 



IN THE REVOLUTIONT 127 

Second Roghnent of Font. Colonel: William Moultrie; Lieutenant 
Colonel: Isaac Motte ; Major: Francis Marion. 

Third Regiment Rangers. Lieutenant Colonel Commanda)it : Will- 
iam Tiiomson ; Major : James Mayson. 

Regiment of Artillery. Lieutenant Colonel Commandant : Owen Rob- 
erts ; Major : Barnard Elliott. 

First Rifle Regiment. Colonel: Isaac linger; Lieutenant Colonel: 
Alexander Mcintosh ; Major : Benjamin Huger. 

Second Rijle Regiment. Lientena)U Colonel Commandant: Thomas 
Sumter; Major: William Henderson. 

Artillerij Company at Beaufort. Captain : William Har- 1 
den. I 

Artillery Company at Georgetown. Captain : Paul Tra- I ^^ , 

;- Volunteers. 
pier. I 

Artillery Company at Charlestown. Captain : Thomas 

Grimball. 



CHAPTER VII 

177G 

When the Parliament of England met in September, 
1775, it was proposed that the naval establishment should 
be increased to 28,000 men, and the number of ships in 
the American waters to 80. The land forces were to con- 
sist of 25,000 of the best troops in the service. These 
formidable preparations aroused great opposition, and in 
defending the estimates Lord Barrington stated the num- 
ber of effective men in the army at Jjoston to be 7415 ; 
but that the forces in America were increased to 34 bat- 
talions, amounting in the whole to 25,000 men. In the 
course of his statement he thought it necessary to explain 
that the idea of taxation was entirely given up, but that 
this force was necessary to secure the constitutional de- 
pendence of the colonies. He stated that the purpose of 
the administration was first to arm so as to be in a posi- 
tion to enforce obedience, and then to send out commis- 
sioners to endeavor to conciliate the people in America.-' 

The suggestion that the administration was willing to 
abandon the idea of taxation, lost the government at once 
the support of many who had upheld coercive measures 
upon the persuasion that the revenue to be drawn from 
America would lessen their own burdens. The opposi- 
tion was therefore greatly strengthened when the matter 
of supplies came up. Because of the war the land tax 
was to be raised four sliillings on the pound. It was with 
no little surprise and concern tlicn Ihat the country gentle- 

^ Aiuiual Register (1770), vol. XIX, 80. 
128 



IN THE REVOLUTION 129 

men learned that the taxation of the colonies was to be 
abandoned. They declared that if that essential object 
was to be relinquished, they would grant no money for 
prosecuting a contest from which no substantial benefit 
could be derived. The discontent of the landed gentry 
seriously alarmed the ministry, and their opposition was 
only allayed by the repudiation of Lord Harrington's 
statement, and the assurance that the intention of obtain- 
ing a revenue from America had never been given up.^ 
So this wise measure which would in all probability have 
secured the return of the allegiance of South Carolina — 
if of no other colony — was abandoned, and soon after 
another measure was introduced which, as we have seen, 
resulted in silencing the moderate party in this colony, 
and securing the adoption of a constitution and the organi- 
zation of an independent, if temporary, government. 
This was the bill prohibiting all intercourse Avith the thir- 
teen united colonies, — a measure which aroused violent 
opposition in Parliament, but in the face of which the 
ministry were unmoved, — a measure which the colonists 
claimed of itself cut off and separated them from Eng- 
land. It was observed in the debate that the guardian 
genius of America had that day presided with full influ- 
ence in tlie midst of British councils, and inspired the 
measures of those who directed the affairs of the country 
— measures calculated to answer all the purposes which 
the most violent Americans and their most zealous adher- 
ents could propose by driving the people in the colonies 
to unite in an inflexible determination to cast off all de- 
pendence on the government in England and to establish 
free and independent States of their own. It was moved 
that the title of the bill should be altered and so worded 
as to express its real meaning, in which case it should 
1 Annual Register (1776), vol. XIX, 89, 101. 

VOL. III. — K 



130 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

be styled, a bill for carrying more effectually into exe- 
cution the resolves of Congress. But in vain were the 
ministry warned. The bill was passed, and every prepara- 
tion was made to enforce it. 

Before the end of the year Sir Peter Parker, Admiral 
of the Royal Navy,^ with the Earl of Cornwallis, who 
now began a career of distinguished services as soldier 
and statesman alike in India as in America, sailed with 
ship Actoeon and a bomb vessel from Portsmouth to Cork 
to convoy troops and transports to America. By the 20th 
of January, 1776, a fleet which was generally supposed 
to be destined for the Southern colonies was ready to 
sail ; but it was delayed and much time was lost by the 
objection of the Lord Lieutenant to permit the troops to 
leave Ireland, so that it was not until the 13th of Febru- 
ary that the fleet consisting of forty-three sail and about 
twenty-five hundred troops put to sea. In a few days it 
encountered a severe storm and was dispersed. Some of 
the transports put back to Cork, others got into Plymouth, 
Portsmouth, and other western ports of England. The 
expedition was thus unfortunate from the very outset; and 
the news of its purpose and organization reached General 
Washington, who was now in command of all the forces of 
the colonies, before Sir Peter Parker's first vessel appeared 
off the coast. An intercepted letter of the Secretary of 
War, dated White Hall, December 23, 1775, had given the 
information that seven regiments with a full fleet of frig- 
ates and small ships were ready to proceed to the Southern 
colonies to attempt the restoration of the Royal govern- 

1 We have followed the usual custom of speaking of this gallant officer 
as Sir Peter Parker. In fact, however, he was not created a baronet 
until 1782, and then he was so honored because of his distinguished 
services in America, and particularly for his gallant, if unsuccessful, con- 
duct in the battle we are about to describe. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 131 

meiit in that part of America. It was to proceed in the 
first instance to North Carolina, and thence either to Vir- 
ginia or South Carolina, as circumstances sliould deter- 
mine. 

It will be recollected that Lord William Campbell, when 
he took refuge on the Tamar^ had declared that he would 
never return to Charlestown till he could support the 
King's authority and protect his faitiiful subjects. It 
was a singular coincidence that soon after Lord William 
Campbell had abandoned his government and taken up 
his abode on the Tamar, Governor Josiah iNIartin of North 
Carolina had been compelled to relinquish his and to 
seek refuge on the Scorpion. This vessel was then also 
in Charlestown harbor, so that there then were as we 
have seen two British Governors without governments on 
board British vessels lying there. But neither of these 
had any idea of giving up the struggle for his restora- 
tion. Each had been assiduous in his efforts to procure 
a military force to reduce his province to obedience. 
Each represented the friends of Royal authority as need- 
ing only the support of a small force to give them an 
opportunity of embodying themselves for the reestablish- 
ment of the British government. Lord William Camp- 
bell was confident that Charlestown might easily be 
reduced, and that its reduction would restore the whole 
province. Governor Martin was equally so that with a 
little assistance he could set up and maintain a Royal 
government at Cross Creek, now Fayetteville, North Caro- 
lina, where the Scotch Highbinders, who had been intended 
for the Iligli Hills of Santee in South Carolina, but had 
been as we have seen carried into the Cape Fear, and had 
finally settled, were intensely loyal to the Crown. There 
he expected also to be joined by the late Regulators, a 
body of desperate men lately rebels to the King's author- 



132 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ity, and now hostile to the American cause. Lord Dun- 
more, Governor of Virginia, was also calling for assistance. 

Wlieii Boston was evacuated by the British on the 16th 
of March, the fleet under Admiral Graves bearing the army 
from Boston lingered for some days in Nantucket road, 
but at length disappeared entirely from the coast, and 
the deliverance of Boston was assured. But what would 
be the destination of the troops thus relieved from Boston 
was a question which greatly concerned Washington. 
On the 4th of February the mystery was partly solved by 
the appearance in New York harbor of Sir Henry Clinton, 
who had been with the army at Boston and had distin- 
guished himself at Bunker Hill, and who with a part of 
the squadron had been dispatched from Boston just before its 
evacuation. He visited New York, as he declared, to have 
a talk with Governor Tryon, formerly Governor of North 
Carolina, then Governor of New York. There he met 
Lord William Campbell and Governor Martin, and after a 
brief visit, taking these Governors with him, he continued 
his cruise, avowing his destination to be North Carolina, 
which was doubted because of his open avowal. It was 
however true that the coast of North Carolina was the 
first point of his destination, and there he was to meet 
Sir Peter Parker sailing directly from England. 

The plan appears to have been that the first attempt 
should be made in North Carolina. That the fleet enter- 
ing Cape Fear, the force under Sir Henry Clinton 
should proceed with Governor Martin and Lord William 
Campbell to Cross Creek, and there to set up a Royal gov- 
ernment, around which all the back settlers in the South- 
ern colonies might rally and unite. ^ On his voyage to 
Cape Fear Sir Henry looked in at Norfolk, but Lord 
Dunmore not then requiring his assistance, he proceeded 
1 Annual lieijister (177(''), vol. XIX, 157. 



IN THE KEVULUTION 133 

to the Cape, there to learn that the grand scheme proposed 
for the establishment of a government in the backwoods 
of North Carolina had been utterly frustrated by the 
brilliant victory of General Caswell at Moore's Creek 
Bridge, where the Highlanders had been defeated and 
totally broken and dispersed. While waiting the arrival 
of Sir Peter Parker's fleet, however, Sir Henry landed 
several parties to reconnoitre the country ; and one of 
them attacked a post at Brunswick, fifteen miles up the 
river and dispersed its garrison. ^ 

Sir Peter Parker's squadron did not arrive at Cape Fear 
till the beginning of May. There they found Sir Henry 
Clinton. Neither had any definite knowledge of General 
Howe's situation, as Sir Henry had been dispatched be- 
fore the evacuation of Boston, and only knew of that 
event throngh the American papers. Sir Peter's fleet 
was intended for the subjugation of the Southern prov- 
inces ; but General Howe had dispatched a vessel from 
Halifax, to which place he had retired from Boston to 
intercept and order the fleet to join him there, but the 
vessel was delayed and did not reach Cape Fear until the 
fleet had sailed for Charlestown.^ Lord William Campbell, 
true to his courageous, if not very firm, character, at once 
offered to serve under Sir Peter Parker as a naval officer, 
thus to be on hand to resume his government in case of 
success. 

When Washington had been made Commander-in-chief 
of the American forces. General Charles Lee had been 
chosen third in command. By a singular coincidence Lee 
had arrived in New York on the very day Sir Henry 
Clinton looked so mysteriously into that harbor. It had 
been determined that \jW sliould go to Canada to com- 

' Loudon Rcmemhrnncpr (1776), 189. 
' Annual RegisUr (1770), vol. XIX, 159. 



134 HISTOUY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

iiiHiul the troops there ; but as it was now presumed that 
the enemy in the ensuing campaign would direct their 
operations against the Middle and Southern colonies, 
Congress divided these colonies into two departments, — 
one comprehending New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, and Marjdand, and the other comprising 
Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, these latter to be 
under the command of a major general with four briga- 
diers. In this new arrangement the orders assigning 
General Lee to Canada were revoked, and he was appointed 
to the command of the Southern department, where he was 
to keep watch over the movements of Sir Henry Clinton. 
Lee was not at all satisfied with the change of his command. 
General Lee was a soldier of fortune. He may almost 
be said to have been cradled in the army, for he received 
a commission at the age of eleven years. He had had an 
irregular education, but the art of war had been his especial 
study from his boyhood. Unfortunately, he imagined that 
he wielded the pen as well as the sword, and was always 
meddling as much with the politics of the war in which 
he was for the time engaged as with the operations in the 
field, and in regard to the latter he could never confine 
himself to the limits of his own command. He was 
undoubtedly a man of brilliant talents and much knowl- 
edge and experience in the art of war, but he was wilful, 
uncertain in his temper, and always more intent upon his 
own military glory than careful of the interest of the 
cause in which he was engaged, if, indeed, he was true to 
it. He had served in the French war in America, in 
Portugal, and in Poland. When the question had arisen 
between England and her colonies, he warmly espoused 
the cause of the latter, and had come to America as early 
as 1773 and liad taken an active part in the political 
agitations of the country. The soldier whom the Mohawk 



IN THE llEVOLUTIOX 135 

warriors liad admitted to smoke iu their councils and had 
a(h>pted under an Indian name signifying "Boiling Water," 
who had st-rved in the famous campaigns of Europe, com- 
manded Cossacks, fought with Turks, talked with Fred- 
erick the Great, and had been aide-de-camp to the King 
of Poland, could not but be regarded as a prodigious 
acquisition to the patriot cause. ^ But no public estima- 
tion could equal the demands of his vanity and egotism. 
He had come now to a field, however, in which no fame 
or glory was to be achieved by a professional soldier nor 
by any one not a "native here, and to the manner born." 
They who were to succeed in the coming warfare must be 
untrammelled by the pedantic rules of the profession, 
must bring to it minds capable of seeing and realizing the 
novel condition of affairs and of conceiving and carrying 
out projects regardless of mere military etiquette and the 
old plans of European campaigns. 

However reluctant to abandon the expedition to Canada, 
General Lee set out for the South on the 7th of jNlarch, 
and on his way gave intelligence to Washington of Sir 
Henry Clinton, that he had paused at Norfolk in Virginia 
and then sailed again farther south. Under his orders 
five hundred Continental troops from Virginia and four- 
teen hundred from North Carolina were in full march for 
Charlestown. Sir Henry Clinton having left General Lee, 
as he supposed, engaged in measures for the defence of 
New York, was surprised at his arrival in Virginia, where 
he had stopped on his voyage to Cape Fear, to find Lee 
there ready to meet him, and still more so upon arriving 
before Charlestown to find him again in command of the 
forces for the defence of that })lace.2 

The coast of South Carolina is fringed by a series of 

1 Irving's Washington, vol. I, 418. 

^AnntKtl Iiei/i!<t<'r (177(5), vol. XIX, 159, IGO. 



136 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

low islands, or sand bars, on the exterior lines of which 
the receding tide leaves exposed broad beaches formed by 
gradually shelving shores. These islands are covered 
with glistening white sands, forming hills which shift 
with the varying winds. At the time of the Revolution 
the}' Avere covered with palmettoes and myrtle, with here 
and there a live-oak or a cedar tree. The deep, loose 
sand affords but poor footing for the movement of troops 
or carriages of artillery, and the beach could be used for 
these purposes only at certain stages of the tide. On the 
interior side of these islands are immense tracts of green 
salt marsh, extending for miles between the islands and 
the mainland. These marshes are intersected by laby- 
rinths of narrow serpentine creeks through which the 
flooding water makes its tortuous way, and often at the 
spring-tide overflows them, completely obliterating for 
the time the creeks through which it has come from the 
sea. At low water these creeks are usually bare. At no 
time do they afford the means of transportation for ar- 
mies or supplies. Two of these islands form the natural 
fortresses to the harbor of Cliarlestown, and both of them 
have become famous in the annals of warfare. That on 
the north, Sullivan's Island, was made so in 1776 by the 
events about to be narrated. That on the south, Morris 
Island, was made still more so in the war between the 
States in 1861-65. Sullivan's Island stretches on the 
northern side of the harbor for about four miles. At its 
northern end it is separated from Long Island, of similar 
formation, by what is now a bold but narrow inlet, but 
which at that time was said to have been ordinarily ford- 
able. Long Island extends some seven miles uj) the coast, 
where it is in tui-n separated from Dewees' Island,^ and so on. 

1 Long Island is now known as the Isle of Palms, the pleasure resort 
of the city of Charleston. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 137 

On the 31.st of May expresses informed President Rut- 
Icdj^^e that a hirge fleet of British vessels was seen off 
Dewees' Island, about twenty miles north of Charlestown 
har ; and on the 1st of June Sir Peter Parker cast an- 
chors some few miles to the northward of it with upwards 
of fifty sail of vessels, including transports.^ The objec- 
tive point of the joint military and naval expedition of Sir 
Henry Clinton and Sir Peter Parker was now no longer 
in doubt. Upon South Carolina was tlie blow to fall. 

General Armstrong, one of the brigadiers of this de- 
partment, had arrived in Charlestown toward the close 
of April, and soon after took command of the troops in its 
vicinity. 2 Upon learning of the appearance of the British 
fleet President Rutledge sent expresses to order out the 
militia, the alarm was fired, the fortifications visited 
by the President and General Armstrong, and every step 
was taken for making the best possible defence against an 
invasion which Avas now certain and immediate. ^ On the 
4th of June ]\lajor General Lee accompanied by Brigadier 
General Howe* and some other officers arrived at Haddrell's 
Point on the mainland just opposite the cove of Sullivan's 
Islaiul, and after viewing that post and Fort Sullivan — 
the fort on Sullivan's Island, which had been begun on the 
10th of January, and since had been but partially com- 
pleted — the}' came up to Charlestown.^ Whatever were 

1 Mrmoirs of the lievolution (Drayton), vol. II, 279. 

2//>j(/., vol. II, 271), 2S0; Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 140, 141. John 
AnnstroiiK of Pennsylvania, Brigadier General, Continental Army, 
iMareii 1. 1770; resigned April 4, 1777; Major General, Pennsylvania 
militia, January 9, 1778, to close of war. 

^ Mf'tnoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 279, 280; Moultrie's 
Memoirs, vol. I, 140, 141. 

* Robert Howe of North Carolina, Colonel, Second North Carolina Conti- 
nental Regiment, September 1, 1775 ; Brigadier General, Continental Army, 
Marcii 1, 1770 ; Major General, October 20, 1777 ; served to close of war. 

^Memoirs of the lierolution (Drayton), vol, II, 279, 280; Moultrie's 
Memoirs, vol. I, 140, 141. 



138 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the faults of General Lee's character, for the present his 
arrival excited the public ardor, and seemed to presage 
happy results ; nor as it was said was he wanting in dis- 
courses to inform the public mind as to military matters, 
or backward in proceeding on horseback or in boats 
directing military works and ordering such matters to be 
done as he conceived the crisis demanded.^ 

The appearance of the fleet off the bar suppressed for 
the time, at least, the divisions among the people. Indeed, 
most of those in Charlestown and the adjoining parishes 
■were united upon resistance to taxation by the British 
Parliament even to tlie wager of battle, and the with- 
drawal of the concession on this point which Lord Har- 
rington had announced and the consequent avowal by the 
ministry of their intention to raise a revenue in America 
at the point of the bayonet had left no other course open 
even to moderate men than resistance or submission. The 
two parties still differed widely as to the extent to which 
resistance should be carried. If yet few were for abso- 
lute independence, fewer still were for absolute submis- 
sion. But all now joined heartily in preparing for t'""^ 
struggle. The stores and warehouses on the whar-i-^s 
were levelled with the ground to give room for the fire 
of the musketry and cannon from the line of earthworks 
along East Bay. When it is recollected that the com- 
merce of Charlestown was so large at the commencement of 
these difficulties that Mr. Quincy saw three hundred and 
fifty sail off the tr—n on his arrival there in 1773, it will 
be realized how great must have been the value of the 
l)roperty necessary for its accommodation which was thus 
destroyed. As lead was scarce, the weights from the win- 
dows of the houses in the town were taken out by their 

'^Memoirs of the lioroJution (Drayton), vol. II, 280; Moultrie's 
Memoirs, vol. I, 141. 



IN THE liE VOLUTION 139 

owners to be cast into musket balls. Works were thrown 
up, and traverses erected across the streets which might be 
raked by a fire of the enemy. All men hibured wilh alac- 
rity ; some for the sake of example, and others for the 
usefulness of their labor. In a short time the works were 
so advanced as to give some sense of security to tlie in- 
habitants, encouraging them with hopes of a successful 
resistance. The i)ublic records and the printing-^jresses 
had been removed from the town to a place of safety. 
The Gazettes were thus suspended from the 1st of June 
to the 1st of August. 

All possible preparation had now been made, and the 
people anxiously but firndy waited the result of the bat- 
tle. It was indeed a terrible trial they Avere daring; 
with an improvised army of inexperienced officers, raw 
recruits, and uncertain militia, they were challenging the 
power of Great Britain and her combined military and 
naval forces. 

The British fleet had sailed from Cape Fear, and on the 
1st of June anchored off Charlestown bar. The time 
.nil the 5th was spent in sounding the bar and marking 
the cliannel with buoys, and on the 7th the frigates and 
most of the transports crossed and anchored in Five 
Fathom Hole. Immediately after a boat with a flag of 
truce set out from the fleet toward Sullivan's Island, 
but, unaccustomed to the forms of war, the sentinel in 
whose beat it approached firet". upon it and the boat 
returned. Colonel Moultrie at oncu ie[)orted the occur- 
rence to President Uutledge, who ordered a flag sent by a 
discreet officer, explaining the incident to the commanding 
officer of the British fleet, and assuring him that a mes- 
senger from him wouhl be pro[)erly received. Colonel 
Moultrie sent Captain Francis linger under a flag with a 
letter of explanation, which was accepted, and a second flag 



140 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

from the fleet was sent the next clay. President Rutledge 
and Colonel Moultrie would scarcel}^ however, have been 
at the trouble of the explanation and apology had they 
known the use that Avas to be made of the flag, for instead 
of a message relating to the conduct of the war, a sum- 
mons, or other proper subject of communication, the flag 
brought a proclamation of Major General Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, commander of his Majesty's forces in the Southern 
provinces of North America, warning the deluded people 
of the miseries ever attendant upon civil war, and entreat- 
ing and exhorting them to return to their duty to their 
sovereign, and offering, in his ^lajesty's name, free pardon 
to all such as should lay down their arms and submit to 
his government. The proclamation Avas received, — no 
effort appears to have been made to suppress it, — but it 
produced no effect, no attention was paid to it, nor was 
any answer given. The transports then moved north- 
wardly, and General Sir Henry Clinton landed four or 
five hundred men on Long Island. On the 10th the flag- 
ship Bristol got over the bar with some difficulty, and 
was so(jn joined by the remainder of the fleet, which 
anchored but a league's distance off Sullivan's Island, 
from which point with the help of glasses all that was 
going on on Sullivan's Island could easily be seen and 
the guns counted.^ 

On the 8th General Lee, without consulting or advising 
with President Rutledge, assumed command and began 
issuing orders directly to Colonel Moultrie on Sullivan's 
Island. The South Carolina regular troops had not then, 
it should be observed, been taken into the Continental line, 
nor were they until the following September. They were 
all still upon the establishment of the colony and under 
the immediate orders of President Rutledge as Com- 
1 Gentleman's Magazine (1770), vol. XLVI, 380, 458. 



III l/ir ayr/'tnis/ifd .>/«/<• it uiis on tfie 2S'^ Jun^ 777G f^e niirnlerS ppf 
^'njint'fi ifAfu< iAr atipAl of (rJi (Jipy rarrirxi OiUy l/u part cf the Fpi 

j\.^ Skrf/-Ji ffn fort c/ Sn/hvfiyi^- Meuuf , l/i^ fort , tA^Jfcua, and lAf SAifij 
the A Hack trUu. ^S'^Juytr /77ff. 




I / . ' 




') 




IN THE REVOLUTION 141 

mander-in-cliief of South Carolina. To avoid, however, 
any conflict of authority or want of unity of action, Presi- 
dent Rutledge on the 9th announced that the command 
of all the forces, regular and militia, was vested in Major 
General Charles Lee, and that orders issued by him Avere 
to be obeyed.^ In doing this, however, President Rut- 
ledge, fortunately, did not by any means give up the 
entire control of affairs. 

Fort Sullivan as the fort was then called, but which 
name it was soon to exchange for that of Fort Moultrie, 
in honor of the hero who was to defend it, was a square 
with a bastion at each angle, sufficiently large to contain 
when linished one thousand men. It was built of pal- 
metto logs laid one upon the other, in two parallel rows 
at sixteen feet distance, bound together at intervals with 
timber dovetailed and bolted with logs. The spaces be- 
tween the two lines of logs were filled up with sand, and 
the merlons were walled or revetted with palmetto logs 
notched into one another at the angles, well bolted to- 
gether, and strengthened with pieces of timber. The 
walls were sixteen feet thick, filled in with sand, and ten 
feet high above the platforms ; the platforms were sup- 
ported by brick pillars.'^ 

The fort was only finished on the front or southeast 
curtain and bastions, and on the southwest curtain and 

1 Memoiri^ of the EcvoltUion (Drayton), vol. II, 280. 

2 The palmetto, of the logs of which the fort was principally built, is 
the representative form taken by the palm on the coast of the Southern 
States of Soutli Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and is probably the most 
hardy of the palms. It sometimes attains a height of fifty feet, and a 
diameter of twelve or fifteen inches. It is usually very straiglit, without 
branches, but covered upon the top witli large leaves. Its wood is very 
porous, soft, and spongy, and thus was singularly suited to the purposes of 
defence against guns of the caliber in u.se at the time of the Revolution, 
a cannon ball entering making no splinters nor extended fractures, but 
burying itself in the wood without doing hurt to the parts adjacent. 



142 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

bastion ; the northeastern curtain and the northwestern 
curtain and bastions were nntinished, being logged up only 
about seven feet high. The platform, therefore, as finished 
extended along only the southeastern front of the fort and 
its southwestern side. Upon these platforms the guns 
were mounted. On the southeast bastion the flagstaff was 
fixed, having a blue flag on Avhich was emblazoned the word 
'• Liberty," and three eighteen- and two nine-pounders were 
mounted there. On the southeastern curtain six French 
twenty-six-pounders and three English eighteen-pounders 
were placed, and on the western bastion connected with it 
three French twenty -six-pounders and two nine-pounders. 
On the southwestern curtain six cannon were mounted, 
twelve- and nine-pounders. Connected with the front angle 
of each rear bastion of the fort, lines of defence then termed 
cavaliers, which would now be known as epaulements, — 
hastily constructed sideworks to cover and protect the 
men and guns, — ■ were thrown up at a small distance on the 
rio-ht and left of the fort, and three twelve-pounders were 
movmted on each of them ; so the whole number of guns 
mounted in the fort on each side was thirty-one, of which 
only twenty-five at any possible time could bear upon the 
enemy stationed in front of the fort, and even then four 
nine-pounders in the two inner sides of the front bastions 
could be scarcely used. Narrow platforms or banquettes 
were placed along the walls where the plank was raised 
against them for the men to stand upon and fire through 
the loopholes. 

Such was the condition of the fort on the 28tli of June, 
the day tlie battle was fought ; but at the time General 
Lee took command the front and western side of the fort 
only were finished ; the rear of the fort and the eastern 
si.le were not built more than a few feet high, and the 
f )rt was not closed. The troops destined for its defence. 



IN THE IIEVOLUTION 143 

to wit : the Second South Carolina Regiment of Infantry 
amounting to 413, and a detaclnnent of the Fourth 
South Carolina Regiment, artillery, of 22 men ; the Avhole 
435, of whom 36 were sick and unfit for duty, under 
the command of Colonel William Moultrie, were encamped 
in its rear, in huts and booths covered with palmetto 
leaves. This was called "The Camp"; only the guards 
were stationed in the fort. Indeed, there was no room for 
the troops, the mechanics and laborers still at work upon 
it were so numerous.^ 

Nearly midway between Fort Sullivan and Charlestown, 
on the southern side of the harbor, was Fort Johnson hav- 
ing upward of twenty heavy cannon of French twenty- 
six- and English eighteen-pounders. Its garrison consisted 
of the First South Carolina Regiment of Infantry amount- 
ing to about 380 men and a small detachment of 
artillery, the whole under the command of Colonel 
Christopher Gadsden. Nearer the town on the shore of 
James Island were about twelve heavy guns which raked 
the channel approaching Charlestown from Fort Johnson. 
At this battery Captain Thomas Pinckney was stationed 
with his company of Colonel Gadsden's regiment. 

At the time General Lee took command there were 

' Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 290-291. 

The following is the roster of officers present in the fort during the 
battle : — 

Colonel: William Moultrie ; Lieutenant Colonel: Isaac Motte; Major: 
Francis Marion ; Adjutant : Andrew Dellient. 

Captains: Peter Horry, Nicholas Eveleigh, James McDonald, Isaac 
Hark'st on, Charles Motto, Francis Hnger, Richard Ashby, Richard Shu- 
brick, William Oljphant, John Rlako. 

Lieutenants : William Charnock, Thomas Lesesne, Thomas Moultrie, 
Daniel Mazyck, Jacob Sluibrick, Thomas Dunbar, William Moultrie, Jr., 
Tljnmas Hall, Henry Gray, Isaac Dubose, Richard B. Baker, Adrian 
Proveaux, Richard Mason, IVtcr (Jray, Basil Jackson, Gab. Marion. 
— Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 183. 



144 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

twelve hundred men on Sullivan's Island and but ten 
thousand pounds of powder. He from the first dis- 
approved the plan of the defence of the island, and if it 
had been left to him would have abandoned it. He soon 
reduced the number of troops and removed a quantity of 
powder, openly declaring in the fort itself " that it could 
not hold out half an hour, and that the platform was 
but a slaughtering stage." He proposed to the Presi- 
dent to abandon the fort and island, but this President 
Rutledge rejected with indignation, declaring that he 
would cut off his right arm before he would write such 
an order. 1 

General Lee, learning that a body of the enemy had 
landed on Long Island, at once, at six o'clock a.m., on the 
8tli, ordered Colonel Moultrie to reconnoitre them, adding 
that perhaps Colonel Moultrie would see the practicability 
of attacking the force from the main — an order showing 
how little he understood the situation. To attack from the 
main would have required the troops to cross miles of the 
marsh already described. By eight o'clock he had, how- 
ever, discovered the impossibility of such a movement, 
and then ordered Colonel Moultrie immediately to detach 
Colonel Thomson's, the Third, and Colonel Sumter's, the 
Sixth, regiments. Captains Alston's, Mayham's, and Coutu- 
rier's companies to Long Island with orders to attack and 
if possible to dislodge the enemy there ; but he cautioned 
him that all care should be taken to secure the retreat of 
the force across the beach from Long Island to Sullivan's 
Island, and for this purpose he desired Colonel JNIoultrie to 
move two lield-pieces down to the point commanding the 
beach. Tliis order, however, was not received until two 
days after, at seven o'clock, June 10. Moultrie then at 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 141 ; Jlemoirs of the Revolution (Dray- 
ton), vol. II, 283. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 145 

once prepared to obey it, and intended to embark the 
troops for this purpose that night ; but by this time it 
was ascertained that the whole of the British forces were 
on Long Ishmd, amounting to near three thousand men, 
under the command of Sir Henry Clinton, who had under 
him Major (ieneral Lord Cornwallis and Brigadier Gen- 
eral \'aughn. 

Sir Henry Clinton having landed on Long Island with 
all his troops, made preparations for passing the inlet 
between tliat and Sullivan's Island. He threw up two 
works, one for mortars and the other for cannon; in addi- 
tion to which he had an armed schooner and some float- 
ing batteries. Against these Captain De Brahm, the 
colonial engineer, had erected breastworks of palmetto 
logs on the northeastern point of Sullivan's Island, dis- 
tant about a mile, supported by a battery of one eighteen- 
pounder and one brass field-piece six-pounder. Those were 
supported Ijy Colonel Thomson's regiment, the Third, 
or regiment of Rangers, the same which came so near 
mutinying the year before, now consisting of upward of 
300 men ; by Lieutenant Colonel Clark with 200 North 
Carolina regulars. Colonel Daniel Horry with 200 South 
Carolina troops, the Raccoon Company of 50 Ritlemeu, 
and a small detachment of militia ; the whole amounting 
to about 780 men being under the command of Colonel 
Thompson. This oflicer, with the Rangers, had just 
returned from the expedition under Colonel Richardson. 

General Lee was most anxious and restless about the 
troops on Sullivan's Island, and their means of retreat in 
case of the fall of the fort, which he deemed inevitable. 
He i)roposed to have a bridge built from the island to 
Haddrell's Point on the main. There were numerous 
objections to this selieme. In the first place there was 
no time to build it, and in the second a bridge of nearly 

vol.. III. I. 



146 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

a mile long could be rendered useless by a few shots from 
the vessels, which he justly expected to reach and take 
position on the western end of Sullivan's Island to enfilade 
the fort — the occasion upon which he looked for its de- 
struction and the consequent evacuation of the island. 
But as there was no time to build a proper bridge, he at- 
tempted to improvise one consisting of two planks buoyed 
up by empty hogsheads and boats anchored across the 
cove. The inefficiency of such a bridge was at once de- 
monstrated Avhen Lieutenant Colonel Clark with his two 
hundred North Carolinians attempted to cross upon it 
going to reenforce Colonel Thomson. It sank before the 
detachment was half across, and General Lee was obliged 
to content himself with boats as the means of communi- 
cating with the island if retreat became necessary. Upon 
this subject Colonel Moultrie had no fears, and General 
Lee's anxieties in regard to it seemed rather to amuse 
him. " I never was uneasy," he says in his Memoirs, " be- 
cause I never imagined that the enemy could force me to 
the necessity (of retreating). I always considered myself 
as able to defend the post against the enemy." We have 
seen how little General Lee understood the tojiography 
of the situation when he proposed to cross troops from 
the main to attack the enemy on Long Island ; under 
the same mistaken idea he was now possessed by the fear 
that Sir Henry Clinton would cross his troops from Long 
Island to tlie main for the purpose of seizing HaddrelFs 
Point and moving against the town from that quarter. 
To do this the British \vould have had to cross at least 
two miles of marsh, in the mud of which they would 
have sunk but a few yards from the shore. But Lee was 
so infatuated upon this point that he strongly reenforced 
Haddrell's Point with Continental troops under the com- 
mand of Brigadier General Armstrong, which was in 



IN THE REVOLUTION 147 

effect simply ■withdrawing so much of his forces from 
jiiiy possible participation in the coming battle. 

There was still another cause for anxiety, however, in 
the mind of General Lee and on which he was clearly 
right. The fort was so situated that the bend of the 
island i)ermitted approaches to be made on its right flank 
by the water which extended round the curve of the 
shore into the cove. Should any vessel, therefore, suc- 
ceed in passing around and taking position at this point, 
the platform of the forts on which the guns were placed 
would be easily enfiladed from that quarter. He there- 
fore directed a fleche ^ and screens to be erected to pro- 
tect the men from such an attack, and a traverse in rear 
to secure the garrison in case of an attack from the rear. 
Neither of these works for the protection of the platform 
was ever attempted. ^ In this matter General Lee undoubt- 
edly had just cause of complaint against Colonel Moultrie. 
In letter after letter he urged Moultrie to carry out his 
orders in regard to these necessary precautions, but in 
vain. It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that Gen- 
eral Lee contemplated removing Colonel Moultrie from 
the command of this fort. On the night of the 27th of 
June he instructed Colonel Nash of the North Carolina 
line to report to him the next morning for written orders 
to take the command of Fort Sullivan, and Colonel Nash 
was on his way to receive them when the battle began; 
and even then on the morning of the action General Lee 
informed President Rutledge as he was leaving to })ass 
over to Iladdrell's Point that he was determined to super- 
sede Colonel Moultrie that day if on going down he did 

1 Fleche : the most simple kind of field-work, usually constructed at 
the fimt of a glacis, consisting of two faces forming a salient angle point- 
ing outward from a position taken. 

2 Memoirs of the Bevolutiun (Drayton), vol. II, 284, 285. 



148 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

not find certain things done which he had ordered. 
Colonel Moultrie was an able and exceedingly gallant 
officer in action ; but he was of easy manners and careless 
disposition, content to leave to others the performance 
of duties which should have received his own personal 
supervision. He was a poor disciplinarian and lacked 
the elementary soldierly characteristic of promptness and 
punctuality. We must not omit to mention, however, in 
extenuation of his neglect in this matter that before and 
during the action he was suffering with gout.^ Had it 
not been for his firm and gallant conduct Sullivan's Island 
would have been abandoned and the glorious victory of 
Fort "Moultrie would not now adorn the history of South 
Carolina ; but nevertheless by his indifference and care- 
lessness that victory was jeoparded, and may have been 
lost had not the enemy's vessels got aground while 
attempting to round the cove in order to enfilade the fort 
as Lee anticipated. Had it not been for his indomitable 
spirit Charlestown would have been surrendered to Gen- 
eral Prevost in May, 1779 ; while it was owing to the 
same defect of his character that the battle of Stono was 
lost in June of that year. But however justly General 
Lee was determined to resent jNIoultrie's indifference to 
orders, he fortunately forbore his determination. Colonel 
Moultrie was allowed to remain in command, and the 
victory was won. 

The fortifications of the town consisted of a line of 
batteries, fleches, and bastions beginning on the land just 
south of what is now known as Bennett's or Halsey's 
mill pond on the Ashley, then known as Cummins's Point, 
and extending along South Bay and East Bay to Gads- 
den's wharf on Cooper River, now the foot of Calhoun 
Street. The Fourth or South Carolina Artillery Regi- 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 173. 



TX THE REVOLUTION 149 

ment and a part of the militia acting as artillery were 
detailed in detachments to man the guns at these points.^ 
The remainder of the town militia were to form at the 
State House. The militia from the country were to form 
in that part of Lyneh's pasture which was nearest the 
town, under the command of Brigadier General Howe. 
The North Carolina troops were to be posted in the rear 
of the South Carolina country militia, under the immedi- 
ate command of General Lee. Fire vessels were also 
prepared for annoying the British vessels, should they be 
able to pass the forts and present themselves before the 
town. 

The North Carolina troops here mentioned were a part 
of the 1400 continentals from that State, 200 of whom, as 
we liave seen, were posted with Colonel Thomson on 
the eastern end of Sullivan's Island to resist the crossing 
of the liritish at that point. The whole force now as- 
sembled for the defence of Charlestown numbered 6522, 
to wit : North Carolina continentals 1400, South Caro- 
lina regulars 1950, Virginia continentals 500, Charlestown 
militia 700, country militia 1972. ^ 

The British force consisted of 2200 British regulars 
under Sir Henry Clinton, and a fleet of two fifty-gun 
ships, five frigates, and four other vessels, carrying in all 
270 guns.^ 

1 The militia mentioned as acting as artillery were in all probability 
the battalion of artillery of which Thomas Grimball was then Captain, 
but we can find no more particular mention of them than that in this list. 

- Mrmoirs of the. licrolntidn (Drayton), vol. II, 282. 

8 Sir I'eter Parker's squadron consisted of the following ships and 

vessels, viz. : — 

_ . , ^- f Sir Peter Parker 

Bristol guns 50 -^ _, ^ . .. , . . . 

1^ Captam John Morns 

Experiment .... "50 Alexander Scott 

Active "28 William Williams 

Solebay "28 Thomas Symonds 



150 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The fleet lay within the bar within a league of the fort. 
On the morning of the 28th of June Colonel Moultrie, 
riding to the eastern end of Sullivan's Island to visit the 
post there under Colonel Thomson, observed the enemy's 
boats in motion at the back of Long Island, as if they in- 
tended a descent upon that advanced post, and at the same 
time he perceived the men-of-war loose their topsails. This 
being the signal of their getting under way he hurried back 
to the fort, and on his arrival immediately ordered the long 
roll to be beaten and the officers and men to their posts. 

The guns were scarcely manned and powder issued 
from the magazine when the British ships were perceived 
under sail bearing down upon Fort Sullivan, and at the 
same time, between ten and eleven o'clock, the Thunder 
bombship ^ covered by the Friendship armed vessel of 
twenty-two guns anchored at the distance of a mile and 
a half and began to throw shells upon the fort, one of 
which fell upon the magazine, but did no considerable 
damage. The flood tide being strong and the wind fair 
from the southwest, the Active twenty-eight guns, the 
Bristol fifty guns, the Experimeiit fifty guns, and the 
Solehay twenty-eight guns soon came within easy range 
of the fort, when its garrison opened fire upon them 
from the southwestern bastion. But the leading ship, 

Actseon "28 Christopher Atkins 

Syren "28 Tobias Furneau 

Sphynx "20 Anthony Ilnnt 

Friendsliip, amned vessel " 22 Charles Hope 
Ranger, sloop .... " 8 Roger Willis 
Thunder, bomb ... "8 James Reid 
St. Lawrence, schooner. Lieutenant .John Graves 

— The Rempmhranccr, Part II, for the year 1770 (London). 191 ; Gentle- 
man's Mmjazine and Historical Chronicle (London), 177(5, vol. XLVI, 
380, 381. 

1 Bombship : a small vessel very strongly built for carrying the mor- 
tars used in bombarding fortifications from the sea. — Craig- Worcester. 



IN THE KKVOLUTION 151 

the Active, regardless of the fire, continued her course 
until within four liundred yards of the fort, where she 
anchored with springs on lier cable and poured in her 
broadside. The Bristol, Experiment, and Solehay ranging 
up in the rear of the Active anchored in like manner, 
leaving intervals between each other. The Syren and 
Actceon of twenty-eight guns each and Sphynx of twenty, 
forming a second parallel line, took positions in rear oppo- 
site the intervals. The example of the Active was followed 
by the other ships as they took their stations, and a heavy 
and incessant bombardment began from their batteries, 
while from the fort a slow but sure return Avas made. 
All the while the Thunder bombship was throwing tliir- 
teeji-inch shells in quick succession, several of which fell 
into the fort. They were, however, immediately buried 
in the loose sand, so that very few of them burst upon the 
garrison. 

General Lee was not alone in predicting that the fort 
could not hold out half an hour before such a bombard- 
ment. Captain Lempriere, a brave and experienced sea- 
man, who had been master of a man-of-war and was then 
the captain of a privateer in the service of the colony, 
the same who had taken the powder the year before off 
St. Augustine, while visiting Colonel Moultrie after the 
British ships had crossed the bar, Avalking on the platform 
and looking at the fleet, said to him, " Well, Colonel, what 
do you tliink of it now?" Colonel Moultrie replied 
simply, '' We should beat them." — "Sir," said he, "when 
those ships (pointing to the men-of-war) come to lay 
alongside of your fort, they will knock it down in half an 
hour." Then said Colonel ^foultrie, " We will lay behind 
the ruins and prevent their men from landing." And 
now that these ships were before hini, pouring in their 
broadsides of two hundred and seventy guns besides 



152 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the mortars from the bombship, — against his twenty-five 
guns in the fort, — now that these vessels, two of which 
liad twice as many guns as the fort couhl bring to bear, and 
four others had each three guns more than he could reply 
with, and though under great physical suffering, he was 
still of the same quiet mind and steadfast opinion. He 
did not for a moment doubt that he " should beat them." 

As soon as the engagement of the fleet had begun, 
General Sir Henry Clinton made dispositions for crossing 
the inlet and attacking the troops under Colonel Thom- 
son at the other end of Sullivan's Island. With two 
thousand regulars he accordingly marched down from his 
encampment on Long Island to the edge of the inlet, 
where it was usually fordable except at high water. He 
was flanked on his right by an armed schooner, the Lady 
William^ and a sloop which had been lying between Long 
Island and the main, and on the left toward the sea by a 
flotilla of armed boats from the fleet. These had orders to 
reach the landing on Sullivan's Island and rake the plat- 
form of the redoubt held by Thomson, while the army 
crossed over the inlet and stormed the little fort, which 
was entirely open on the west. Colonel Thomson with 
his garrison of North and South Carolinians had but 
two cannon, and they were manned only by his Kangers, 
who had never before fired a gun larger than a rifle, but 
who with small arms were the very best of marksmen. 
The flotilla advanced bravely to the attack, cheered on by 
the army paraded on the shore within speaking distance 
of the boats, but Colonel Thomson opened on them so 
well directed a fire that the men could not be kept at 
their posts — every ball raked their decks. The flotilla 
made repeated attempts to reach their destined point, 
and did come within the range of grapeshot which cleared 
the decks and dispersed the flotilla. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 158 

In the meanwhile Clinton, who had besides his regulars 
some six or seven hundred marines and boatmen, thns mak- 
ing his force two thousand more than all Thomson had 
with which to meet them, halted and remained on the shore 
of Long Island, a quiet spectator of the battle without mak- 
ing au}' further effort to cross. His excuse was that he 
found the inlet which he had been led to suppose~TPas 
fordable, impassable, and that he had no boats in which 
to cross his men. It appears that the passage at that 
time w^as more difficult than usual because of a long series 
of easterly winds which had increased the height of the 
tide. But this explanation w\as not received at home as 
a sufficient excuse for the disaster which befell the expe- 
dition because of Sir Henry's failure to cooperate with 
the fleet. To suppose, it was said, that the generals and 
the officers under their command should have been nine- 
teen days in that small island wdthout ever examining 
until the very instant of action the nature of the only 
passage by which they could render service to their 
friends and fellows, fulfil the purpose of their landing, 
and answer the ends for which they were embarked upon 
the expedition, would seem a great defect in military pru- 
dence and circumspection.^ 

^Annual licgigtcr (London), 1776, vol. XIX, 162; Botta's History, 
vol. I, 3M8. The opposition papers in England ridiculed the excuse, one 
of them, the St. James Chronicle, in an epigram : — 

"A MIRACLE ON SULLIVAN'S ISLAND 
"By the Red Sea the Hebrew ho.st detained 
Through aid divine the distant shore soon gained ; 
The waters fled, the deep a passage gave ; 
But thus God wrought a chosen race to save^ 

" Though Clinton's troops have shared a different fate 
'Gainst tiiem, poor men ! not chosen sure of heaven, 
The miracle reversed is still as great — 
From two feet deep the water rose to seven." 

— Johnson's Traditions, 95. 



154 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The bombardment of the fort continued, says a British 
account, whilst the thunder from the ships seemed suffi- 
cient to shake the firmness of the bravest enemy, and 
daunt the courage of the most veteran soldier. The return 
made by the fort could not fail of calling for the respect 
as well as of highly incommoding the brave seamen of 
Britain. In the midst of that dreadful roar of artillery 
the South Carolinians stood with the greatest constancy 
and firmness to their guns, fired deliberately and slowly, 
and took a cool and effective aim. The ships suffered 
accordingly ; they were torn almost to pieces, and the 
slauofhter was dreadful. Never did British valor shine 
more conspicuously, nor ever did their marine in an en- 
gagement of the same nature with any foreign enemy 
experience so rude an encounter.^ 

And now General Lee's fears in regard to the danger 
from an attack u})on the fort from tlie cove side would 
have been realized but for an accident to the fleet. The 
Spht/nx, Actceon, and Syren, the ships of the second line, 
were ordered about twelve o'clock to pass the fort and 
take a position toward the cove of Sullivan's Island for the 
double purpose of enfilading the front platforms on the 
southeast curtain and its two bastions whose fire w^as so 
destructive to the British ships and crews, and also to cut 
off communication between Sullivan's Island and Charles- 
town. Fortunately the manamvre failed. To make the 
movement the frigates stood over toward the shallow 
middle ground opposite to the fort so as to pass clear of 
the line of ships then closely engaged, and in doing this 
the Actceon and Sphynx ran foul of each other, and the 
three stuck fast on the shoal on which Fort Sumter has 
since been built and stands. The Syren got off, as did 
the Sphynx., with the loss of her bowsprit, but the Actceon 
1 Annual Eegiater (Loudon), 1776, vol. XIX, 161. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 155 

was left immovable on the shoal. The Syren and Sphynx 
now withdrew, and bearinf^ away under cover of the sliips 
I'ligugcd retired to prepare themselves for further action. 
The Thunder bombship, too, having thrown fifty or sixty 
shells with little effect, ceased firing. She had anchored 
at too great a distance and was therefore compelled to 
overcharge lier mortars, the recoil of which shattered the 
beds and so damaged the ship as to render her unfit for 
further service. The combat was now kept up only by 
the four ships first engaged, but in the afternoon the Brit- 
ish fire was increased by a reenforcement of the Syren 
and Friendship. 

The fire of the fort was principally directed at the 
Bristol and Experiment^ carrying each fifty guns, and they 
snftcred most incredibly. The first was the flagship on 
board of which was Sir Peter Parker and with him Lord 
William Campbell, who had volunteered his service and 
was complimented with the command of her lower deck. 
Sir Peter received two wounds, but gallantly remained at 
his post, encouraging his men and reenforcing his ship 
from other vessels. Lord William Campbell received a 
wound in his side, which was at first reported to be not 
of a serious character, but from the effects of which he 
ultimately died.^ Early in the action the Bristol had the 
spring of lier cable shot away, which caused her to lie 
end on to the battery, and was raked fore and aft. She 
lost upwards of one hundred men killed and wounded. 
Cai)tain Morris received a number of wounds, but with 
noble obstinacy disdained to quit his i)ost until his arm was 
sliot off; he died a week after. Perhaps, it was said, another 
instance of sucli slaughter could not be produced; twice the 
quarterdeck was cleared of every person except Sir Peter, 

' Gorflnn's Am. War, vol. II, 284 ; Ramsay's Revolution, vol. I, 147 ; 
BottA's History, vol. I, 338. 



156 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and he was wounded. The vessel had nine shots in her 
mainmast, which was so much damaged as to be obliged to 
be shortened ; the mizzenmast had seven thirty-two-pound- 
ers, and had to be cut away. The day was very sultry 
with a burning sun, the wind very light, and the water con- 
sequently smooth. But for this it is probable the Bristol 
could not have been kept from filling, as she was hulled 
in many places and otherwise so damaged that the car- 
penters of the squadron were called to her for assistance 
while the battle raged in all its fury. The Experiment 
suffered almost as much as the Bristol. Captain Scott 
her commander, like Captain iNIorris, lost his right arm, and 
was otherwise so badly wounded that his life, too, was at first 
despaired of. The number killed and wounded on the 
Experiment was about the same as upon the Bristol. All 
the while the battle raged barges were passing from one 
ship to the other and to and from the transports, removing 
wounded and bringing fresh men as occasion required. 
So great was the slaughter on board these two ships that 
a remonstrance was made to Sir Peter Parker that if the 
fire from the fort continued, the two sliii^s and tlieir arms 
would be entirely destroyed; indeed, their abandonment 
was in contemplation when the fire from the fort slackened 
from want of powder. 

The fort, on the other hand, had not escaped with impu- 
nity. Three or four of the fleet's broadsides striking the 
merlons at the same moment shook the slight work to its 
foundation, and it was apprehended that a few more would 
realize Lee's predictions and tumble the whole fabric down. 
Owing, however, to the peculiar character of the palmetto 
logs of which the fort was built, comparatively little dam- 
age was done, save in the concussion and shaking of the 
framework. Though tlie ships which were to have gained 
position at the cove failed to do so, yet even from the 



1 



IN THE REVOLUTION 157 

position the ships had reached the southwestern curtain 
of the fort was so enfihaded and the guns were so often 
struck that it was apparent that had they reached that 
point, unless beaten off by the batteries at liaddrell's 
Point at long range, the fort in all probability would have 
proved the slaugliter pen Lee had predicted. Soon after 
the action began the three twelve-pounders which were in 
the cavalier or interior bastion were abandoned, the works 
not being sufficiently high to protect the men who manned 
them. 

The flagst.aff of the fort was shot away some time after 
and fell with the flag outside the fort. Upon this Sergeant 
Jasper of the Grenadiers of the Second Regiment leaped 
down from one of the embrasures, and tearing the flag 
from the staff returned with it through a heavy fire from 
the shii)ping, and fixing it upon a sponge staff planted it 
once more on the summit of the merlon amidst a rain of 
shot and shell ; then giving three cheers returned to his 
gun, which lie continued to serve throughout the engage- 
ment.^ 

While the battle was raging General Lee dispatched a 
letter by one of his aides, ordering Colonel Moultrie if 
he should expend his ammunition without beating off 
the enemy to spike his guns and retreat with all order 

' The example of Sergeant Jasper was repeated, not once or twice, 
but over and over again, at Fort Sumter and Battery Wagner during tlie 
siege of Cliarlestcni in 18(3;>-04. At Fort Sumter twenty instances were 
ofKcially reported — more occurred. Several instances were made subjects 
of Department General Orders. In this connection the names of twenty- 
seven oflBcei's and men appear with honorable mention in the reports of 
the commanding officer of Fort Sumter. At Battery Wagner the com- 
manding officer reports with honorable mention the names of six officers 
and men. See Defence of Charleston Harbor (Johnson) ; Flag-raising 
(Sumter), 12;^, 131, 178, 17!), 180, 1!)!), 212, 213, 214; Flag-raising {Wii^i- 
ncr), 10(3, Ajj. Lxxxv. 



158 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

possible. Colonel Moultrie was thus placed in a most 
embarrassing position. If he exhausted his ammunition, 
he was to desert the fort and thereby to permit Colonel 
Thomson at the extreme end of the island to be cut off 
with the whole of his command. But as he was not 
required by this order to abandon the fort as long as 
he had ammunition, he determined to save it as long as 
possible. By slackening the discharges of his guns to 
intervals of about ten minutes each, he was enabled so to 
protract the defence and to save the day. The powder, 
however, being much reduced and a rumor spreading in 
the fort that the British troops had effected a landing 
between Colonel Thomson and the fort, Moultrie ceased 
firing almost entirely, reserving his ammunition for the 
troops he believed to have effected a landing. This was 
between three and five in the afternoon. The cessation 
of the fire was so complete that the British at this time 
believed that the fort was silenced. President Rutledge 
however succeeded in sending Moultrie five hundred pounds 
of powder with a note predicting "honor and victory," 
and adding by way of postscript, " Do not make too free 
with your cannon — cool and do mischief." This supply 
of powder enabled Moultrie to resume his fire at shorter 
intervals during the rest of the day. About the time the 
supply of powder sent by Rutledge arrived General Lee 
came over in a boat from Haddrell's Point through the 
British line of fire, and ascending the platform of the fort 
he pointed two or three of the cannon whicli Avere dis- 
charged against the enemy. He remained a quarter of an 
hour, then saying to Colonel Moultrie, " 1 see you are do- 
ing very well here — you have no occasion for me — I will 
go up to town again," he left the fort, and returned to 
Haddrell's Point through the same line of fire in which he 
had come. 



IN THE 1M5VOLUTION 159 

About five o'clock in the afternoon Colonel Muhlenberg 
of Virginia, with 7U0 continentals, crossed over from 
lladdreirs Point and reenforced Colonel Thomson, thus 
rendering his position more secure against any further 
attempt from Long Island. 

The total nund)er killed in the fort was twelve and the 
wounded twenty-live. The dying words of Sergeant 
INIcDaniel of Captain Huger's company will be remem- 
bered as long as the story of the battle is told.^ He was 
cruelly mangled by a cannon ball, yet life and vigor 
remained long enough to euable him to call to his com- 
rades, " Fight on, ni}- brave boys ; don't let liberty expire 
with me to-day." 

On the other side the Bristol alone had upward of one 
hundred men killed and wounded and the Experiment 
not much less. Each of their captains lost an arm and 
died a few days after. The Solehay had twelve killed 
an<l wounded and the Active seven. Thirty-seven were 
kilh'd and wounded in the fort, over two hundred in the 
fleet. The proportion of loss in the fleet was scarcely less 
than six to one over that in the fort. The fort expended 
abont 470(3 pounds of powder, the fleet about 34,000 
pounds. 

The firinsr had continued until near seven o'clock in the 
evening when it slackened with the setting sun, and at 
half-past nine it ceased on both sides. At eleven the 
ships slipped their cables without any noise or piping 
and returned with the last of the ebb tide to their former 
anchorage near Five Fathom Hole. When the morning 
of the liOth of .Tunc broke upon the scene the Actceon lay 
fast ashore at the distance of about a mile from the fort. 

^ In accounts given of this battle the name of the hero lias usually 
been .u'iven as McDonald, but Drayton gives McDaniel as tlie true name. 
Memoirs of the lievolittion (Drayton), vol. II, 30.}. 



160 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The rest of the men-of-war and transports were riding at 
anchor opposite Morris Island, while Sir Peter Parker's 
broad pennant was hardly seen on a jury mast consider- 
ably lower than the foremast of his ship. The blue flag 
with the crescent and the word " Liberty " still gently 
waved in the wind from the sponge staff to which it had 
been fastened by Jasper. Boats were passing and repass- 
ing in safety between the fort and town, and the hearts 
of the people were throbbing with gratitude and exulta- 
tion. The garrison at Fort Moultrie fired a few shots at 
the Actceon, which were promptly and gallantly returned 
from her by Captain Atkins, when, to prevent her falling 
into the hands of the Americans, he set fire to her, taking 
off her crew in small boats, leaving her colors flying and 
her guns loaded. But this did not prevent a party under 
Lieutenant Jacob Milligan of the Carolina ship of war 
Prosper from boarding her while on fire. This party 
pointed and fired three of her guns at the Britisli commo- 
dore, and stripping her of what the pressing moments per- 
mitted brought off her colors, ship's bell, and as much of 
her sails and stores as his boats could contain. Milligan 
had scarcely done this when the Actceon blew up with an 
awful explosion. 

On the 30th of June in the afternoon, General Lee and 
staff reviewed the garrison at Fort Moultrie and thanked 
tiiem for their heroic defence, and on the 4th of July 
President Rutledge visited the garrison, and taking his 
own sword from his side presented it to Sergeant Jasper 
as a reward for his bravery and an incitement to further 
deeds of valor. 

Excluding Lexinjjton which ushered in the war, and 
Yorktown whicli ended it, the battle of Fort Moultrie 
must rank with tlie three most complete and decisive 
American victories of the Revolution. It was the first 



IN THE REVOLUTION 161 

absolute victory. The next was Saratoga, and the third 
the cuhiiination of the long series of smaller affairs at 
King's Mountain. Bunker Hill was a gloriously fought 
battle, and did niueh to establish the first confidence of the 
Americans in the efficacy of their own ability and valor ; 
but the military advantage of the struggle lay with the 
British. Princeton and Trenton were brilliant military 
strokes, which did much to revive the failing spirits of the 
time, but besides this were productive of no decisive or 
lasting results. Tlie victor}^ of Fort Moultrie in its 
moral aspect was as valuable to the cause as Bunker Hill, 
but it was far more so in the consequences which followed, 
and the advantages it secured. At Bunker Hill the 
American troops had exhibited the highest qualities of 
valor and steadfastness, but the object of the struggle was 
not attained — the position was ultimately abandoned. At 
Fort ^loultrie they had fought with no less valor and 
fortunately with the most brilliant success. They had 
not only resisted but utterly defeated the supposed in- 
vincible British navy. The little log fort had withstood 
the broadsides of some of the largest vessels in his 
Majesty's service, but the material results were far greater. 
The expedition which so confidently set out to crush and 
subjugate the Southern colonies was utterly defeated, 
and these colonies were relieved for three years from 
invasion, to remain a source of strength and supply to 
their friends at the North while the war waged there. 
The victory at Saratoga put an end to the grand strategy 
by whicli the New England States were to be cut off and 
permanently separated from the otliers, thus it was con- 
fidently believed practically to end the war. The culmi- 
nating victory of King's Mountain recalled Cornwallis 
from the further prosecution of his victorious career, and 
put an end to tlie grand movement by which the war was 



162 HISTORY OF SOUTJr CAROLINA 

to be carried " from South to North," and gained time for 
the coming of the second French fleet. The battle of 
Fort Moultrie was the first of these great achievements 
and victories, nor was it the least brilliant of them. 
Carolinians, North and South, may well remember "-Pal- 
metto Da}^" and glory in its fame, for Carolinians only 
were actively engaged in that great battle ; it was South 
Carolina blood only that was shed on the ramparts of the 
fort ; it was owing only to John Ilutledge that the battle 
was fought, and to William Moultrie that the victory was 
won ; and yet amidst our rejoicing and pride it is well 
for us to remember that the result of the battle was, in 
a manner more than ordinarily manifest, in the hands of 
the God of Battles by whose behest the east winds blew, 
which prevented the British force from crossing the inlet 
to the attack, and to the confusion of the enemy's ves- 
sels, and their grounding upon the shoals when moving 
to take advantasre of our hero's error. 



CHAPTER VITI 
1776 

John Adams in his Diary ^ states that when the Con- 
gress assembled in May, 1775, the members appeared to be 
of one mind, and that, after his own heart, namely, that 
the Congress ought to recommend to the people of every 
State in the Union to seize on all the Crown officers and 
hold them with civility, humanity, and generosity as hos- 
tages for the security of the people of Boston, and to be 
exchanged for them as soon as the British army would 
release them ; that it ought to recommend to the people 
of all the States to institute governments for themselves 
under their own authority, and that without loss of time ; 
that it ought to declare the colonies free, sovereign, and 
independent States, and then inform Great Britain they 
were willing to enter into negotiations for the redress of 
all grievances and a restoration of harmony between the 
two countries upon permanent principles. 

The gentlemen of Pennsylvania who had been attached 
to proprietary interests and owed their wealth and honors 
to it, and the great body of the Quakers, he says, had 
liitiierto acquiesced in the measures of the colonies or at 
least had made no professed opposition to them. But 
now these people began to see that independence was 
ap})roaching, they started back. In some of his public 
liarangues in which, as he asserts, he freely and explicitly 
laid open his thoughts, on looking around the assembly 
he saw horror, terror, and detestation strongly marked on 

» Life and Wurks of John Adams, vol. II, 406, 409. 
103 



164 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the countenances of some of the members whose names 
however he would not record. 

But he goes on to state that in some of the earlier de- 
liherations in May, 1775, after he had reasoned on his own 
plan, Mr. John Rutledge in more than one public speech 
approved of his sentiments, and that the other delegates 
from South Carolina — Mr. Lynch, Mr. Gadsden, and Mr. 
Edward Rutledge — appeared to him to be of the same 
mind. He relates that Mr. Dickinson told him after- 
wards that when Congress first came together the balance 
lay with South Carolina, and that accordingly all the 
efforts of the opponents of independence were employed 
to convert the delegates from that State. The proprie- 
tary gentlemen and Quakers, he says, addressed them- 
selves with great assiduity to all the members of Congress 
whom they could influence, even to some of the delegates 
of Massachusetts, but most of all to the delegates from 
South Carolina. Mr. Lynch, he says, had been an old 
acquaintance of the Penn family, particularly of the Gov- 
ernor. Mr. Edward Rutledge had brought his lady with 
him, a daughter of their former President, INIr. Henry 
Middleton. Mr. Arthur INIiddleton, her brother, he 
states, was now a delegate in place of his father. The 
lady and gentlemen were invited to all entertainments 
and were visited perpetually by the party, and they soon 
found that Mr. Lynch, Mr. Arthur jNIiddleton, and even 
the two Rutledges began to waver and to clamor about 
independence. Mr. Gadsden was either, from despair of 
success, never attempted, or if he was he received no im- 
pression from them. He says he himself became the 
dread and terror and abhorrence of the party. But all 
this he avers he held in great contempt. Arthur Middle- 
ton, whom lie ridicules, became, he says, the hero of Quaker 
and proprietary politics in Congress. 



X 



IN THE REVOLUTION 165 

This account of the state of parties by Mr. Adams is 
given as part of his Diary of 1775 ; but it is manifest 
from the contents that it was not written at any time 
during that year ; and from the confusion of persons it 
was probably not written until long after — so long after 
that characters and dates had all become confused in his 
mind. Arthur ^Vliddleton who he says was noiv^ i.e. in 

1775, a delegate in the place of his father and the hero of 
the conservatives, was not in Philadelphia at that time, 
but was in South Carolina, where as one of the Council 
of Safety he with William Henry Drayton was leading 
in Gadsden's absence the extreme party. From the 14th 
of June, 1775, he was constant in his attendance upon the 
Council of Safety in Charlestown. His father Henry 
Middleton, John Rutledge, and Christopher Gadsden 
returned from the Congress as we have seen soon after 
the 1st of February, 1776, and did not, any one of the 
three, return again to it. Arthur Middleton was not 
elected a member of Congress until the 24th of February, 

1776, so that there was no time when Arthur Middleton, 
the two Rutledges, and Gadsden were in Philadelphia 
together. John Rutledge was elected President under 
the new Constitution on the 26th of March, and remained 
in South Carolina. Christopher Gadsden had been re- 
called by the Provincial Congress and requested to remain 
in the performance of his duties in the command of the 
troops, which he did. From jNIarch, 1776, the delegation 
from South Carolina in the Continental Congress consisted 
of Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch, — who was soon after 
joined by his son Thomas Lynch, Jr., — Arthur Middle- 
ton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr. Mr. Adams was probably 
just as much mistaken in regard to John Rutledge's sup- 
port of his, Adams's, views in regard to independence, for 
John Rutledge was throughout the whole struggle until 



166 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the Declaration of Independence consistent in his desire 
to keep open the door to a reconciliation with the mother 
country, and even after that, two years later, resigned the 
Presidency rather than approve a change in the Constitu- 
tion which he considered as closing the door to such a 
happy consummation. 

The truth is there was no change in the views either 
of those in Pennsylvania or South Carolina who now hung 
back unwilling to follow Massachusetts and Virgina in 
their scheme of independence and separation — the change 
was in the advocates of this radical, if necessary, measure, 
not in those who opposed it. Mr. Adams himself after- 
ward declared that " there was not a moment during the 
Revolution when I would not have given everything I 
possessed for a restoration of the state of things before 
the contest began, provided we could have had a sufficient 
security for its continuance ;" that is, as has been observed, 
it was with him a matter of security. If he could be secured 
of the rights for which he was contending without separa- 
tion, he was not only willing, but would have preferred it 
at any cost. Independence of England to him even then 
was not desirable in itself. So, too. Colonel Joseph Read^ 
writes to Washington from Philadelphia early in ]\Iarch 
that there was a strong reluctance in the minds of many 
to cut the knot which ties us to Great Britain, particularly 
in this colony and to the southivard. Again, on the 15th of 
the same month, he writes, " It is said the Virginians are 
so alarmed with the idea of independence that they have 
sent Mr. liraxton on purpose to turn the vote of that 
colony, if any question should come before Congress." 
And, in reply, Washington admits that the people of Vir- 
ginia, from their form of government and steady attach- 
ment heretofore to royalt3% will come reluctantly to the 
idea of independence. A few days before the battle of 



IN THE llEVOLUTION 167 

Lexington, Fninkliu in England testified that he had more 
than once travelled almost from one end of the Continent 
to the other, and kept a variety of company, eating, drink- 
ing, and conversing with them freely, and never had heard 
in any conversation from any person, drunk or sober, the 
least exi)ression of a wish for a separation, or a hint that 
such a tiling wt)iild be advantageous to America. Mr. 
Jay was quite as explicit ; he declared that until the second 
petition of Congress in 177o he never heard an American 
of any class or description express a wish for the inde- 
pendence of the colonies, and that it had always been his 
opinion and belief that our country was prompted and 
impelled to independence by necessity and not by cJioice. 
Mr, Jefferson affirmed, " What eastward of New York 
might have been the disposition toward England before 
the commencement of hostilities, I know not, but before 
that I never heard a whisper of a disposition to separate 
from Great Britain; after that its possibility was con- 
temi)latcd with al'liiction by all." ^ James Iredell of North 
Carolina, afterward a Justice on the Supreme Bench of 
the United States, in a very able pamphlet written at this 
time, June, 1775, says : — 

" I avoid the unhappy subject of the day, independency. There was 
a time very lately witliin my recollection when neither myself nor 
any person I knew could hear the name but with horror. I know it 
is a favorite argument against us, and that on which the proceedings 
of Parliament are most i)lausibly founded, that this has been our aim 
since the beginning, and all other attempts were a cloak and disguise 
to this ]>rincipal one . . . this suspicion though so ill founded lias 
been i>rofesse(lly the parent of all the violent acts that now irritate 
the minds of the Americans. Some are inflamed enough to wish for 
indt'pi-ndt-nce, and all are reduced to so unhappy a condition as to 
dread at least that they shall be compelled in their own defence to 

' See these ciuotations collected and cited by Mr. Sabine. Tlie Ameri- 
can Liiydlists, 07, 68. 



168 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

embrace it. I profess of the latter number, in exclusion of the former. 
I am convinced America is not in such a situation as to entitle her to 
consider it as a just object of ambition, and I have no idea of a people 
forming a constitution from revenge. A just and constitutional con- 
nection with Great Britain (if such could be obtained) I still think, 
in spite of every provocation, would be happier for America for a con- 
siderable time to come than absolute independence." ^ 

Mr. Sabine in his work on the American Loyalists shows 
conclusively that the impression that Whigs proposed, and 
the Tories opposed, independence at the commencement 
of the controversy is entirely erroneous ; that the con- 
troversy had been going on quite fourteen years before 
the question of independence was made a party issue, and 
even then necessity not choice caused a dismemberment of 
the empire. 2 Of this necessity the people of South 
Carolina generally were not yet convinced, nor indeed 
were they prepared to go to this length to redress 
grievances which were in the main to them purely 
theoretical. 

When, therefore, the delegates from Virginia on the 
7th of June, 1776, moved in obedience to instructions 
from their constituents that the Congress should declare 
that these united colonies are and of right ought to be 
free and independent States; that they absolve all alle- 
giance to the British Crown, and that all political connec- 
tion between them and the State of Great Britain is and 
ought to be totally dissolved, Edward Rutledge, tlie 
only one of the original delegation from South Carolina 
then in Congress, joined John Dickinson and James AVil- 
son of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New 
York in opposing the resolution. These delegates de- 
clared that though they were friends to the measure 

1 Life and Correspondence, of James IredeU, vol. I, 321, 322. 

2 The American Loyalists (Lorenzo Sabine), G9. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 169 

themselves, and saw tlie impossibility that they should 
ever again be united with (Jreat Britain, yet they were 
against adopting them at that time. That it was wise 
and proper to defer taking so decisive a step till the voice 
of the people drove them into it. That the people were 
the power, and without them these declarations could 
not be carried into effect. That besides South Carolina 
the people of the Middle colonies — Maryland, Delaware, 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York — were not yet 
ripe for bidding adieu to British connection. That the 
resolution entered into on the 15th of jNIay, for suppress- 
ing the exercise of all powers derived from the Crown, 
had shown by the ferment into which it had thrown the 
Middle colonies that they had not yet accommodated their 
minds to a separation from the mother countr^^ That 
some of them had expressly forbidden their delegates to 
consent to such a declaration, and others had given no 
instructions, and consequently their delegates had no 
powers to give such consent. These and other reasons 
were urged against the resolution of independence. On 
the other hand, John Adams of Massachusetts, George 
Wythe and IJichard Henry Lee of Virginia, urged that 
the question was not whether by a declaration of inde- 
pendence they should make themselves what they were 
not, but whether they should declare a fact which already 
existed ; that as to the people or Parliament of England 
they had always been independent of them, these re- 
straints upon the trade of America deriving efficacy from 
acquiescence only, and not from any rights Parliament 
possessed of imposing tiiem ; that all connection had been 
dissolved by the commencement of hostilities ; that they 
had been bound to the King by allegiance, but that the 
bond was now dissolved by his assent to the late act of 
Parliiunent by wliich he declared the colonists out of his 



170 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

protection ; that the people waited for the Congress to 
lead the way.^ 

These debates clearly showing that the colonies of New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
and South Carolina were not yet ready for the declara- 
tion, it was thouglit most prudent to wait awhile for them 
and to })ostp()ne the final decision to July the 1st ; but in 
the meanwhile a committee was appointed to prepare a 
declaration of independence. ^ 

On Frida}', the 28tli day of June, the day upon which 
the first decisive victory was gained by American arms in 
the struggle with the mother country, that of the battle 
of Fort Moultrie in Charlestown harbor, Thomas Jeffer- 
son from the committee appointed for the purpose reported 
his draft of a declaration of independence. It was read 
and ordered to lie on the table. On Monday the 1st of 
July the House resolved itself into a committee of the 
whole and resumed the consideration of the original mo- 
tion made by the delegate from Virginia. The debate 
was carried on throughout the day. The delegates from 
New York declared that while they were for the declara- 
tion themselves and were assured that so also were 
their constituents, that their instructions having been 
drawn near a twelvemonth before Avhen reconciliation 
was still the general object, they were enjoined to do 
nothing which should prevent it. They therefore thought 
themselves not justified in voting on either side, and asked 
leave to withdraw from the question, which was given 
them. The vote was then taken, Avhen New Hampshire, 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia voted 

1 Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. I, 10 ; Elliot's Debates on the 
Constitution, vol. I, 84-88. 

2 Ibid. 



IN THE IJEVOLUTIOX 171 

for the Virginia resolution, that tlie Congress should 
declare that the colonies were, and of right ought to be, 
free and independent States. Pennsylvania and South 
Carolina voted against it, and as the two delegates from 
Delaware were divided, that vote was not counted upon 
either side. The vote of the delegates from Georgia was 
for the declaration, but the delegation from that colony 
represented few but themselves ; Georgia was the young- 
est, the weakest, and tlie most loyal of all the colonies. 
The connnittees of the whole rose and reported their reso- 
lution to the House. Before action was taken, however, 
by the House in open Congress, Mr. Edward Rutledge 
rose and requested that the determination might be put 
off to the next day, as he believed his colleagues, though 
they disapproved of the resolution, would then join it for 
the sake of unanimity. This was agreed to, and the vote 
was accordingly postponed to the next day.^ 

And so it happened tliat on the 28th day of June, 1776, 
the destiny of South Carolina was in the hands of two men 
widely separated from each other, — brothers — John and 
Edward Rutledge, — one at home assuming the responsi- 
bility and forcing the issue f)f l^attle with the British fleet 
and army, and obtaining the first great victory of this war ; 
the other at Phihulel[)hia assuming the responsibility of 
connnitting his people to a policy which they had not 
approved, and thus securing the iinion of the colonies in 
the Declaration of Independence. 

Tlie delegation from South Carolina were certainly in 
an embarrassing position. South Carolina they knew had 
joined in the movement from the first more because of 
sympathy with the New England colonies because of their 
treatment by Great Britain than from any actual pressure 

* WritiiK/.t of Tlmmnit Jrffcrsan, vol. I, 10 ; Elliot's Debates on the 
Constitulivn, vol. I, 88, 8'.». 



172 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of hardship and wrong npon the colony -itself. The pres- 
ent government in England had grossly abused the ap- 
pointing power, and had refused to allow the necessary 
courts for the increased population of the colony until it 
had bought off the patent office-holders who had been 
so unworthily forced upon their people. But these were 
local grievances which the Congress in all their discus- 
sions had not thought worthy of enumeration in the 
wrongs of Avhicli they were complaining ; and which, 
indeed, were so in accordance with the spirit of the times 
as scarcely to be urged by the Carolinians themselves. 
Then, too, these troubles were of a character wliich they 
hoped could be remedied by a change in the ministry 
without resort to the extreme remedy of revolution. 
The stern and cruel commercial code Avhich was at the 
bottom of all the trouble was not felt practically in South 
Carolina, though rice was one of the enumerated articles. 
The people, as we have seen, were planters and not sailors, 
and were content that the mother country should have the 
carrying of their produce. The merchants of South Caro- 
lina, unlike those of the Northern colonies, were almost to 
a man opposed to revolution. Again, the people of South 
Carolina had been forced to realize in the outset that 
though they might be led into a war from sympathy with 
the wrongs of the Northern colonies, those colonies Avere 
too far distant to assist them in return. The troops of 
the Northern colonies had joined the Virginians in Brad- 
dock's campaign, and those of Virginia and the Middle 
colonies were now under Washington before Boston. 
South Carolina had been left to her own resources for 
defence against the Spaniards and Indians, and now while 
lier delegates did not know of the victory of Fort Sulli- 
van, they did know that South Carolina was left to meet 
the grand naval anil military expedition that had sailed to 



IN THE REVOLUTION 173 

attack Charlestown as best she might with the assistance 
only of North Carolina, and possibly of some few troops 
from Virginia. But more than all this ]Midclleton and 
Hey ward and the younger Lynch had just come from 
home, where they had heard Gadsden's avowal of his de- 
sire for indei)endonce, and had witnessed the excitement 
which that declaration had aroused. They had heard the 
new Constitution discussed, and knew that Gadsden's 
policy had been expressly repudiated in its preamble. 
Arthur Middleton himself, it is true, had been a leader of 
the extreme party in South Carolina, but as such he prob- 
ably best realized how weak it was in numbers. Thomas 
Heyward, Jr., had been sent with Middleton, and Hey- 
ward had always belonged to the moderate party. Thomas 
Lynch, Jr., had still more lately joined them, and now, no 
doubt, like his father, was influenced by the conservative 
element in Philadelphia. The active delegation from 
South Carolina was thus composed of a 3^ounger set. 
INIiddleton, the eldest of them, was but thirty-three years 
of age, Heyward but thirty, and Rutledge and Lynch 
were but twenty-seven. The delegation together aver- 
aged but little over twenty-nine years. It has been said 
that in South Carolina generally the fathers were Tories 
and the sons were Whigs. It is more than likely that 
botli tlie elder Middleton and Lynch were glad to leave 
to their sons the severance of ties which were still almost 
sacred to them. 

When, however, the Congress met on the 2d of July, 
and the question was again submitted whether it would 
declare the independence of the colonies, Middleton, Hey- 
ward, and Lynch had, under Edward Rutledge's influence, 
agreed to brave the consequences at home and to vote for 
the Virginia resolutions in order to preserve unity among 
the colonies. / Fortunately for them an event had taken 

/ 

/ 



174 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

place there which had vastly changed the condition of 
parties and affairs. The war had actually hegun, a hattle 
had been fought, a British fleet had been repulsed, a 
British army held in check, and a victory won in Charles- 
town harbor, before the news of their action in Congress 
had been known to these people. On this day, too, a 
third member had come post from the Delaware counties 
and turned the vote of that colony in favor of the Decla- 
ration. Pennsylvania also changed her vote, and twelve 
colonies agreed to the Virginia resolutions. The draft 
of the Declaration was then discussed on the 2d, 3d, and 
4th days of July, and on the evening of the last day, the 
4th, settled, agreed to in the committee of the whole, 
and immediately reported and adopted in open Congress. 
On the 9tli of July the convention in New York approved 
it, and the Declaration of Independence was then agreed 
to by all the thirteen colonies. 

Thus it was, as Ramsay says, that the people of South 
Carolina without any original design on their part were 
step by step drawn into revolution and war, which 
involved them in every species of difficulty and finally 
dissevered them from tlie mother countr}-. It so hap- 
pened that while on the 28th of June John Rutledge 
was defying the combined army and fleet of his Majesty 
the King of England in the harbor of Charlestown, Edward 
Rutledge, now at the head of the delegation in Congress 
at Philadelphia, was hesitating to commit South Carolina 
to a declaration of independence. And yet John Rut- 
ledge had been for a reconciliation with the Crown ; 
while Edward Rutledge had, from the commencement of 
the difficulties, inclined to Gadsden's extreme measures 
rather than to the prudent course of the moderates led by 
his brother. At the moment wlien Thomas Jefferson rose 
in Congress and presented his draft of the Declaration of 



I 



IN THE REVOLUTION 175 

Independence, Sir Peter Parker was pouring his broad- 
sides into the little palmetto fort on Sullivan's Island. 
Was it to await the issue of the battle that then was rag- 
ing in Charlestown harbor, that some unseen spirit induced 
the Congress, all unconsciously, to pause and to lay for the 
time this pro[)Osed Declaration of Independence upon the 
tabic ? This we cannot know ; but so it was that, at the very 
time while Edward Rutlodge was signing the Declaration 
of Independence at Philadelphia, John Rutledge was ad- 
dressing the garrison at Fort Moultrie, thanking them 
for their gallant cojiduct, and presenting his own sword 
to Sergeant Jasper as a reward for his bravery. 

It was, however, with grave misgivings that the delega- 
tion from South Carolina — not yet informed of the re- 
sult of the expedition of the I^ritish fleet to Charlestown — 
attached their signatures to that document. But as John 
Adams clearly saw, a declaration of independence was 
merely a formal statement of a condition of things Avhich 
already existed. All impatient himself for such a declara- 
tion, he wrote to his wife : — 

" As to declarations of independency be patient. Read our priva- 
teering laws and commercial laws. What signifies a word? When 
the thirteen colonies had, by their delegates in Congress, undertaken 
to regulate commerce ; had issued commissions to privateers to prey 
ui^n British commerce ; had declared that all persons abiding within 
;niv of the United colonies owed allegiance to such colony; had 
enacted that any such who should levy war against the colonies or 
adhere to the King of Great Britain or other enemies of the colo- 
nies, should be deemed guilty of treason against such colony; when 
they had organized armies and appointed Generals for the avowed 
purpose of resisting his IVIajesty's, the King of Great Britain's, forces 
— they had already exercised the highest rights of Sovereignty, and 
of free and independent States." 

Nevertheless, such was the strength of the olden ties ; 
and in South Carolina, at least, so strong was the love for 



176 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the old country, so great was the j)ridc of being a part of 
the British dominion, and entitled to the glories of her 
history, that many shrank from an explicit recognition 
and declaration of the fact that the colonies Avere 
indeed independent States, no longer a part of the old 
country. 

It was with such divided feelings that thousands of the 
citizens of C'harlestown looked on the battle as it raged 
within full view from the houses on the bay ; their hearts 
beating with alternate hopes and fears as the fortunes of 
the day wavered before them. Each broadside of the 
Bristol or the Experiment as it shook the little fort told 
with still greater effect upon their strained nerves as they 
watched through the rifted clouds of battle smoke to see 
if the blue flag with " Liberty " upon it still floated in the 
breeze. The die was indeed cast. Defeat might now 
not only end in storm and pilhige and plunder, but in 
degrading punishment or ignominious death to their 
fathers, brothers, and husbands who should survive. 
Victory, on the other hand, was but the commencement of 
a long war, the experiment of a form of government which 
was new and untried, and for which but few were pre- 
pared. With these anxious thoughts the people crowded 
the wharves and sea front of the town, looking on until 
night had drawn its curtains over the scene, and hid the 
contending forces. Then they could only look for the 
flashes through the darkness, and listen to hear the peals 
like thunder which might be death knells to many 
friends. So they waited and watched and listened late 
into the night, until the liritisli fleet gave up tlie contest. 
But the battle was over ; and the blue flag with " Liberty " 
on it still waved the next morning from the sponge staff 
on the merlon where Jasper had placed it. For some 
days the crippled fleet lay in the harbor, too much 



IN THE RKVOLUTION 177 

injured to renew the figlit or go to sea. Nor had they 
yet all disap[)eared over the bar when came the news 
tliat the Declaration of Independence had been adopted 
in Congress and signed by the delegates from South 
Carolina. 

About ten days after the action a number of the 
enemy's transports received from Long Island the troops 
Avliieh had found no laurels upon its sandy hills, and at 
the same time some of the frigates and armed vessels went 
over the bar. On the 14th of July the Bristol made an 
attempt to cross, but struck. She was got off, however, at 
length with difficulty but without injury. The transports 
with the Solehay^ Thunder bombship, Friendship, and some 
of the small vessels sailed on the 21st of July. On the same 
day a brigantine mounting six four-pounders, and having 
on board tifty soldiers and six sailors, got aground near 
Dewees' Inlet and was captured. On the 25tli of July 
the Exjieriment went over the bar and the next morning 
sailed, and two days after the Syren followed. On the 
2d of August the Active^ Sphinx^ and a large transport 
went out to sea, leaving South Carolina and its coast once 
more clear. ^ 

Though in 1775 the news of the battle of Lexington 
had reached Charlestown in seventeen days. Wells in the 
(razette of the 1st of September, 1776, complains tliat while 
an express sometimes came through from Philadelphia in 
sixteen days, the post generally took double that time; and 
so it was on the 2d of August, the very day when the 
last of the British fleet went to sea from Charlestown 
harbor, an express arrived bringing the first news of the 
Declaration of Independence. But it must be said that 
tiie delegates in Congress from South Carolina had not 
been in any hurry to inform their constituents of their 
1 Memiiirs of Ihc licvolulion (Drayton), vul. II, 207, 208. 

VOL. III. — N 



178 HTRTORY OF SOUTH CAIIOLTXA 

action. Indeed, it was not until the 9th of July that they 
seem to have found courage to write to President 
Rutledge upon the subject, and even then as if fearing 
and reluctant to mention it they begin their communica- 
tion by saying they enclose certain resolutions of the 
Congress respecting the provincial forces which they wish 
may be agreeable to his Excellency, to the Assembly, and 
to the officers of the army and navy. 

" Enclosed also," they write, " are some of the occasional resolutions 
and a very important Declaration which the King of Great Britain 
has at last reduced us to the necessity of making. All the colonies 
were united upon this great subject except New York, whose delegates 
were restrained by an instruction given several months ago. Their 
convention is to meet in a few days, when it expected that instruction 
will be immediately withdrawn and the Declaration unanimously 
agreed to by the Thirteen United States of America." 

The letter then continued with other matters of ordi- 
nary interest. Thus, parenthetically, was this momen- 
tous action on their part announced. Thomas Lyncli the 
elder, who was still in Philadelphia suffering from the 
paralytic affection with which he had been stricken, as if 
to countenance and support the action which the young 
men had taken, joins them in signing this communication, 
thus lending his weight and influence to secure the ap- 
proval of their course.^ Fortunately for its reception, too, 
the battle of the 28tli of Jane had taken place, and com- 
mitted many to a line of conduct into which they Avould 
not otherwise have entered. 

The Declaration of Independence, says Drayton, was 
received in Chaflestown with the greatest joy, and on the 
5th of August inde})enden(;3^ was declared by the civil 
authority ; the President, accompanied by all the officers, 

^ Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 314, 315 ; Journal of 
the Congress. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 179 

civil and military, making a grand procession in honor of 
the event. In the afternoon, in pursuance of general 
orders, the whole of the troops then in Charlestown, as 
well continental as provincial, were paraded near the 
Liberty Tree, where the Declaration was read by Major 
Barnard Elliott, — the same who had only left the King's 
Council a little more than a year before, — and an ad- 
dress was made by the Rev. William Percy. ^ But the joy 
with which the Declaration was received was by no means 
universal. Mr. Henry Laurens, when a prisoner in the 
Tower of London, wrote to a friend thus describinof his 
feelings at the time : — 

" When intelligence of that event reached Charlestown where I was, 
I was called upon to join in a procession for promulgating the Decla- 
ration. I happened to be in mourning, and in that garb I attended 
the solemn and, as I felt it, awful renunciation of an union which I, 
at the hazard of nn' life and reputation, most earnestly strove to con- 
serve and support. In truth, I wept that day, as I had done for the 
melancholy catastrophe which caused me to put on black clothes — 
the death of a son — and felt much more pain. I thought and openly 
declared that, in my private opinion, Congress had been too hasty in 
shutting the door against reconciliation, but I did not know at that 
moment tliat Great Britain had first drawn the line of separation by 
the act of Parlianient which threw tlie resisting colonies out of lier 
protection, and forced them into a state of independence. . . . When 
I was informed of the line of separattbn above alluded to, I perceived 
the ground on which Congress had founded their Declaration, and sub- 
mitted to the unavoidal)le act." ^ 

President Rutledge at once issued a proclamation re- 
quiring the Legislative Council and General Assembly to 
meet at Charlestown on Tuesday, the 17th of September. 
This body, elected in August, 1775, he now called together 
to lay before it the Declaration of Lidependence, which 

* Memoirs of the Ervolntion (Drayton), vol. II, 315. 
2 Coll. of the Hist. Sor. of So. Ca., vol. I, 00, 70. 



180 HlSTUllY UF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the delegation from South Carolina had signed with so 
much hesitation, and communicated with so little exul- 
tation. 

And now that the Assembly had met, the President 
appears to have been as reluctant to plunge into the 
matter about which he had summoned it as the delegates 
had been in communicating it. He, however, had some- 
thing more appropriate with which to introduce the sub- 
ject than the " occasional resolutions " with which the 
delegates had sent the Declaration, It was but fit and 
proper that he should congratulate the Assembly on the 
heroic conduct of the brave men who had repelled the 
formidable British armament from Gharlestown harbor, 
and he had also to tell them of the signal success of oper- 
ations against the Cherokees of which we must directly 
tell. 

"Since your last meeting," he then proceeds, "the Continental 
Congress have declared the United Colonies Free and Independent 
States, absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and the 
political connection between them and Great Britain totally dissolved, 
an event which necessity rendered not only justifiable, but unavoid- 
able. This Declaration and several Resolves of that honorable body 
received during your recess shall be laid before you. I doubt not 
you will take such measures a^ may be requisite in consequence of 
them." 

To this address the Legislative Council answered his 
Excellency that the Declaration of the Continental Con- 
gress called forth all their attention. 

" It is an event," they too said, " which necessity had rendered not 
only justifiable, but absolutely unavoidable. It is a decree now worthy 
of America. We thankfully receive the notification of and rejoice at 
it; and we are determined at every hazard to endeavor to maintain it, 
so that after we have departed our children and their latest posterity 
may have cause to bless our memory." 



IN THE KI<:VOLUTION 181 

The President replied, " Your determination to endeavor 
to maintain the independence of tlie United States at 
I'very hazard proves tliat you know the value and are 
deserving of those rights for which America contends." 

The General Assembly were ecpially explicit in their 
answer to the President's address. 

" It is with unspeakable joy we embrace this opportunity of express- 
ing our satisfaction in the Declaration of the Continental Congress 
constituting the United Colonies free and independent States absolved 
from their subjection to George III and totally dissolving all political 
union between them and Great Britain. An event unsought for, and 
now produced by unavoidable necessity, and which every friend to 
justice and humanity must not only hold justifiable as the natural 
effect of unwonted persecution, but equally rejoice in as the only 
security against injuries and oppressions, and the most promising 
source of future liberty and safety." 

To the Assembly the President replied, " May the hap- 
piest consequences be derived to the United States from 
the independence of America, who could not obtain even 
peace, liberty, and safety by any other means." ^ 

It is difficult to reconcile these utterances of President 
Rutledge with his views expressed both before and after 
the meeting of the Assembly. Upon adjourning the Gen- 
eral Assembly, which as a Congress had adopted the 
Constitution, he had charged the members to tell their 
constituents that the Constitution they had adopted 
was but temporary, only intended to provide some 
form of government during the interregnum, until an 
accommodation could be obtained with Great Britain ; but 
now he not only accepts the Declaration of Independence 
as necessary and unavoidable, but applauds the determina- 
tion of the Council to maintain it at every hazard ; and 
to the General Assetnbly he predicts the happiest conse- 
quences to be derived from it. And yet when, as we shall 
1 Memoirs of the lie col tit inn (Drayton), vol. II, 370, 382. 



182 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

see, two years afterward, the General Assembly passed a 
bill reciting that the Constitution of 1776 was temporary 
only and suited to the situation of public affairs when it 
was resolved on, looking forward to an accommodation 
with Great Britain, an event then desired, but that the 
united colonies had since been constituted independent 
States by the declaration of Congress and it therefore 
became necessary to frame a constitution suited to that 
great event, President Rutledge exercising the power con- 
ferred by the Constitution of 1776 vetoed the bill, declaring 
that he still looked forward to such an accommodation as 
desirable then in 1778 as it had been in 1776. 

Ramsay says the Declaration of Independence arrived 
in Charlestown at a most favorable juncture. It found the 
people of South Carolina exasperated against Great Britain 
for her late hostile attack and elevated with their success- 
ful defence of Fort Moultrie. It was welcomed l)y a great 
majority of the inhabitants. In private it is probable, he 
says, that some condemned the measure as rashly adven- 
turous beyond the ability of the State, but that these 
private murmurs never produced to the public eye a sin- 
gle expression of disapprobation. It was not likely that 
those who for the last two years could not express their 
opinions without danger of being tarred and feathered, 
would have been open at this time to declare their doubts 
as to the wisdom of those who were conducting the Revo- 
lution. But none the less was there opposition to this 
severance of the ties which bound this province to the 
mother country deep in the hearts and minds of many of 
the best and most patriotic of the people of South Caro- 
lina. John Rutledge himself was no doubt carried away 
for the time by the natural elation of sentiment upon the 
victory of Fort INIoultrie which he had done so much to 
secure — which, indeed, would not have been won liad it 



IX THE REVOLUTION 183 

not been for his firmness and determination. But he was 
carried away only for the time. True, as we shall see, he 
assented to an act requiring an oath of abjuration of the 
King and allegiance to the State ; but when an attempt 
was made to form a permanent constitution, the necessity 
of accommodation with Great Britain again forced itself 
upon his conviction, and he refused to close the doors to a 
reconciliation. 

Miles Hrewton who, as we have seen, had entertained 
Josiah Quincy on his visit to Charlestown in 1773, as also 
Lord William Campbell on his arrival in the province in 
1775, and had tlien endeavored to keep the peace between 
the Royal Governor and the Provincial Congress of which 
he was a member ; who had been a member of the Council of 
Safety and active participant in the early movements for 
redress against the grievances of the colonists, was typical 
of many in South Carolina. In a letter to Quincy in 
1774 upon the situation in Charlestown, he writes: " I have 
quitted trade and am now winding up my labors for 
twenty -one years past. I long for shelter ; when once I 
get under the shade it is not a little will bring me out 
again." But there was no shade or rest in Carolina in 
those times. He had hoped, as he then wrote to his friend 
Quincy, that if Boston would but persevere and be pru- 
dent, her sisters and neighbors would work out her salva- 
tion without taking the musket. But things had gone 
very differently since then. War had actually begun, and 
the moving i)arty in the colonies had given up the hope, 
if, intlced, they entertained any longer the wish for a 
redress of grievances from Parliament; they were now 
resolved on their separation from Great Tiritain. To tliis 
extent he would not go, nor would he remain to be other 
than a subject of Great Britain. So gathering up all his 
movable effects, he left his mansion in which he had 



184 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

exercised so generous and brilliant a hospitality, and 
with all his family sailed away from the province. No 
tidings were ever received of the ship in which they sailed, 
and now in the Gazette which publishes the Declaration 
of Independence, Charles Pinckney and Jacob Motte 
advertise that they had proved his will, and as executors 
had assumed control of his great estate. 

Miles Brewton had left the province, but there were 
many who remained who thought as he did. Indeed, there 
were few families in South Carolina, as we have had 
occasion before to observe, wliich were not divided upon 
the question of independence.-^ When four years after- 
wards Charlestown was taken, two hundred citizens, styl- 
ing themselves " the principal and most respectable inhab- 
itants " of the town, addressed Sir Henry Clinton and 
Admiral Arbuthnot, congratulating them upon their suc- 
cess and declaring that although the right of taxing Amer- 
ica in Parliament had excited considerable ferment in the 
minds of the people of the province, yet it might, with a 
religious adherence to truth, be affirmed that they had not 
entertained the most distant thought of dissolving the 
union that had so happily subsisted between them and 
their parent country, and that when in the j^rogress of the 
fatal controversy the doctrine of independence which 
originated in the Northern colonies made its appearance 
among them, their natures revolted at the idea.^ There 
are some, but few, names among the signers of this paper 
which can now be recognized under the description they 
assumed as those of " principab and most respectable in- 
habitants," but what they said was undoubtedly true not 
only of themselves but of many others who did not sign that 

1 So. Ca. under Hoy. Gov. (McCradj-), 557. 

2 Sifge of Charlestown (J. Munsc.ll, IJniited Edition), 148 ; extracts 
from Kivingtoii's lioyid (Uizette, June 21, 1780. 



IX THE K EVOLUTION 185 

paper. Tn the Royal Gazette^ into which Robert Wells's 
South Carolina and American General Gazette was coiiveVted 
during tlie oceui)ant'y of Charlestown by the IJritish troops, 
in the issues of July 1 and September 19, 1780, there are 
])ublished two long lists of citizens who had not addressed 
Sir Henry Clinton, but who had memorialized the 
I'ommandant of Charlestown, declaring their allegiance 
and attachment to the person and government of his 
Majesty, and praying an opportunity of evincing the sin- 
cerity of their profession. Their petition, it is declared, 
had been referred to gentlemen of known loyalty and 
integrity, as well as knowledge of the persons and char- 
acter of the inhabitants who had reported confirming the 
truth of the declarations of these petitioners. In these 
lists are found the names of citizens of the highest charac- 
ter, some of whom had taken part in the first movements 
in the province. There is no reason to doubt the sincerity 
of many of these, either in their resistance to what they 
regarded the wrongs and oppressions of the colonies in the 
first instance, or in their declaration of their allegiance to 
the King in the second. Their conduct was consistent ; 
they were for resistance to the invasion of the rights of 
the colonies ; but this resistance was to be made within 
the dominion of Great Britain. Tliey were opposed to the 
Declaration of Independence and a separation from the 
mother country. To this first secession the people of 
South Carolina were, as a whole, most bitterly opposed. 



CHAPTER IX 

1776 

While these things were taking place on the coast, the 
whole western frontier of the province was again ablaze. 
The Indians were upon the warpath. When we would 
realize what our forefathers dared in resisting the impo- 
sition of a few pennies of taxes because they regarded 
the measure theoretically unconstitutional, let us recall 
the horrors of Indian warfare, — the tomahawk, the scalp- 
ing knife, the torture, the conflagration which invariably 
accompanied an Indian uprising. Let us recollect that it 
was not only the prowess and valor of the naval and military 
force of Great Britain which were challenged on the coast, 
but far more the terrors of the savage lurking in their rear. 
Let us recollect, too, the defenceless condition of the people 
in the back country upon whom these horrors would fall, 
when the Indians learned of the war between the Avhites, 
and were instigated to hostilities by emissaries sent to 
incite them to murder and pillage. To those who had 
witnessed and escaped tlie massacre at Long Canes but 
a few years before, the dread must have been all but over- 
powering. Remembering this, we must wonder that there 
were so many in that region who would risk so much in 
a cause in which they were not materially interested, 
rather than condemn the conduct of those Avho hesitated 
to arouse their savage neighbors, supported as the savages 
would be by the British government. It was the crime 
of Great Britain in this contest that she instigated sav- 

186 



IN THE REVOLUTION 187 

ages to war upon her own people, and accepted them as 
lier allies. 

Captain John Stuart was at this time Superintendent 
of his Majesty's Indian affairs for the whole southern 
district includini^ Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
Georgia, and Florida. lie had, as we have seen, the 
wannest friends among the Cherokees, was beloved by 
them, and possessed the greatest influence among all their 
tribes. He was intensely loyal to the King. In June, 
1775, he left his mansion in Charlestown and retired to 
Florida. Apprehending that from that point he would 
be stirring up the Indians, the Provincial Congress had 
made an order restraining his wife and Mrs. Fen wick his 
daughter from absenting themselves from his home in 
the town, thus holding them as hostages for his good 
behavior. A guard was placed around the house, and it 
was ordered that no person should be allowed to visit 
Mrs. Stuart without Colonel Moultrie's order. From 
this restriction Mrs. Fenwick was subsequently released, 
and Mrs. Stuart succeeded in escaping through the assist- 
ance, as it was supposed, of her son-in-law, Mr. Fenwick, 
who was himself accordingly arrested and put in jail.^ 

From Florida Stuart succeeded in opening communica- 
tion at once with the Cherokees, wdio still inhabited the 
northwestern part of South Carolina, and w^itli General 
(rage at Boston. In the first instance Stuart employed 
Alexander Cameron, his Indian agent among the Chero- 
kees, and his brother Henry Stuart, and in the latter our 
old acquaintance Moses Kirkland, Avho when ^Ir. Drayton 
refused to receive his surrender had escaped to the sloop 
of war Tamar then in (^harlestown harbor. On the 3d of 
October, 1775, Stuart reported to General Gage that as a 
great majority of the frontier and back country inhabitants 
^ Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 122, 123. 



188 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of Carolina were attached to and inclined to support the 
government, that he was opposed to an indiscriminate 
attack hy Indians^ but he would " dispose of them to join 
in executing any concerted plan, and to act with and 
assist their well-disposed neighbors." Stuart dispatched 
this letter by Moses Kirkland, wlio he wrote would assure 
General Gage as to the favorable disposition of the peo- 
ple in the back country. ^ The vessel in which Kirkland 
sailed was providentially captured, and the letters found 
in his possession were published by order of the Conti- 
nental Congress, to show the Americans that the British 
government had employed savages who indiscriminately 
murdered men, women, and cliildren. The capture of the 
vessel and Kirkland, who was to have had an active share 
in the Indian operations, for tlie time frustrated them ; 
but they were renewed, and the Cherokees began a mas- 
sacre just at the time the British fleet attacked the fort on 
Sullivan's Island. ^ 

When Cameron was first api)ointed agent by the British 
government for the Cherokees, he had opened two exten- 
sive farms on the frontier of Carolina, which he stocked 
with negroes, horses, and cattle ; and to secure his influ- 
ence among the Indians, regardless of morality or pro- 
priety, after the custom of Indian agents, had selected 
an Indian woman from one of the most influential families 
of the Clierokees, whom he took to his house as his mis- 
tress and placed at the head of his table. Her dress 
was of the richest kind the country could afford, her 
furniture was elegant, and her mode of living sumptuous. 
To increase his influence, tlirough the means of his mis- 
tress, royal presents were distributed among the Indians 
under her immediate direction. When he saw the storm 

1 Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 206, 207. 
• Ramsay's Revolution, vol. I, 155, 156. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 189 

gathering, Cameron removed into the Cherokee nation, 
Avhere he was constantly surrounded by his red brethren. 
He was there a powerful assistant to Stuart in his designs. 
The Council of Safety had sent Captain AVilliam Free- 
man to meet some of the chiefs and head men of the 
Cherokees at Seneca on the frontier to assure them of the 
friendly disposition of the white people toward the Ind- 
ians, and to draw assurances from them of reciprocal sen- 
timents ; but upon his return he reported that the Indians 
could not be relied upon while they were under the bale- 
ful influence of Cameron. It was thereupon determined 
to secure Cameron's person and to bring him out of the 
nation. This hazardous enterprise through Major Will- 
iamson was intrusted to Ca])tain James McCall, whom we 
have seen with a company at Ninety-Six, and who was 
now beginning a brilliant career, which unfortunately was 
not to outlast the revolutionary struggle. AVitli Captain 
McCall were associated Captain James Baskin and Ensign 
Patrick Calhoun. Their party consisted of twenty-two 
volunteers from Carolina and eleven from Georgia. The 
avowed object of the part}' was to demand restoration of 
property plundered by Lo3'alists and Indians. This they 
were to ask, however, in a friendly way. The detach- 
ment rendezvoused at the Cherokee Ford on the Savan- 
nah Iliver on the 20th of June, 177G, and marched for the 
Cherokee nation. Every preparation was made for a 
i-apid retreat in case they were opposed by a superior 
force. The orders to the commander. Captain ^IcCall, 
were to proceed to a certain point before he broke the 
seal of his private instructions or disclosed the real object 
of the expedition to the men who composed the detach- 
iiient ; but linding there was no disposition to shrink from 
tlie undertaking, the purpose was confided to the men 
individually. The party j)a^sed through several Indian 



190 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

towns, where they were met and received with every 
appearance of friendship and hospitality and a profession 
of readiness to comply with the requisitions made of them. 
On the evening of the 26th they encamped in the vicinity 
of a lar<re town, where McCall made known his wishes to 
have a discussion with the chiefs upon the subject of his 
mission. The conference was spun out, when suddenly 
his interpreter and himself were rushed upon by a party 
of warriors and made prisoners. The detachment under 
Basken and Calhoun were at the same moment surrounded 
by several hundred Indians, who drove in the sentries 
and fell upon the camp while the men were almost all 
asleep. The precautions which Captain ]McCall had 
ordered had not been strictly regarded. The Indians 
rushed into the camp with guns, knives, and hatchets, and 
for a few moments a bloody conflict ensued. Ensign Cal- 
houn was wounded in the first onset. The detachment, 
though overpowered by numbers and taken by surprise, 
succeeded in cutting their way through the ranks of the 
savasres. Calhoun and three others were killed. After 
almost incredible sufferings from fatigue and hunger the 
remainder of the detachment reached the settlement in 
parties of three or four together within two weeks after 
the defeat. 

Captain McCall remained a prisoner for several weeks, 
and to impress him with some idea of the dreadful fate 
which awaited him he was frequently taken to the place 
of execution to witness the torture under which liis fellow- 
prisoners expired. One instance is mentioned in his jour- 
nal of a boy about twelve years of age who was put to 
death in a similar manner as had been John Lawson, the 
explorer, who perished under torture in 1711.^ The de- 
tails are horrible. Light wood splinters were prepared of 
1 Iliitt. of So. Ca. itnder Prop. Gov. (McCrady), 497. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 191 

eighteen inches in length, sharpened at one end and frac- 
tured at the other, so that when lighted the torch would 
not be extinguished by being thrown. After these weap- 
ons of death had been prepared and a fire made for the 
purpose of lighting them, the youth was suspended naked 
by the arms between two posts three feet from the ground. 
Then the scene of horror began. It was deemed a mark 
of dexterity, and accompanied by shouts of applause, when 
an Indian threw one of these torches so as to stick the 
sharj) end into the body of the suffering victim, without 
extinguishing the torch. Thus were two of the most 
cruel modes of death united in one, — crucifixion and 
burning, — and to these was added the exquisite suffering 
from the piercing splinters. This torture was continued 
in this instance for two hours before the poor boy was 
relieved by death. 

The alarm excited among the Indians by the successful 
operation of the American forces of which we must pres- 
ently further tell relieved to some extent the rigors of 
McC'alFs imprisonment, and of this he availed himself by 
taking every opportunity of impressing on the minds of 
the Indians the consequences of murdering a man who 
visited their towns for the purpose of friendly talks and 
smoking the pipe of peace ; he warned them that if he 
was murdered his countrymen would require much Indian 
l>lo()d to atone for his life. Councils were held to con- 
demn him to death, and in one instance he was saved by 
a single voice. Efforts were made by Cameron through 
the medium of an Indian woman to obtain a personal 
interview with him, but McCall peremptorily refused see- 
ing or liaving any communication with Cameron. Finally 
MiCall effected his escape, and Avith one pint of parched 
and a few ears of green corn, he traversed the mountains 
for three hundred miles on horseback without a saddle, 



192 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and the ninth day after his escape reached the frontier of 
Virginia, where he fell in with a body of Virginian troops 
under the connnand of Colonel Christie on its way to join 
the forces of North and South Carolina in an expedition 
to put an end to Clierokee invasions. But other and no 
less thrilling events had taken place in South Carolina 
during his, McCall's, captivity.^ 

Stuart and Cameron had succeeded in arranging with 
the Cherokees for an attack on the frontier settlements 
from Georgia to Virginia as a diversion in favor of the 
invasion by the British fleet and army on the coast. The 
Indian uprising was to be made as soon as the fleet and 
army should be ready to strike. Learning tlierefore on 
the 1st of July that the fleet had arrived off Charlestown 
bar, the Cherokees took up the war club and with the 
dawn of that day poured down upon the frontiers of South 
Carolina, massacring without distinction of age or sex all 
persons who fell in their power. On this day one of 
Captain Aaron Smith's sons arrived at the residence of 
Mr. Francis Salvador on Corn-acre Creek in Ninety- 
Six district with two of his fingers shot awa3^ He told 
that his father's house on Little River had been attacked 
by the savages, and that his father, mother, and five chil- 
dren, together with five negro men, had been butchered by 
them. Mr. Salvador, who was a member of the Provincial 
Congress and one of the few from tlie Up Country who had 
taken an active part in its proceedings, forthwith mounted 
his horse and galloped to Major Andrew Williamson's 
residence, twenty-eight miles from thence, where he found 
another of Captain Smith's sons who had fortunately 
escaped. Other families were likewise massacred, among 

1 In this account we have followed McCall's ITist. of Georgia, vol. II, 
76-81, which purports to be taken from a journal of Captain McCall's, 
but of which we have no other information. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 193 

them the Hamptons. Anthony Hampton, the father of 
General Wade Hamj^ton, was among the first emigrants 
from Virginia to the upper part of South Carolina. He 
had settled with his family on Tyger River in what is now 
Spartanburg County. Impressed with the importance to 
tlie frontier inha])itants that the Cherokees should be 
conciliated and kept in peace, Edward, Henry, and 
Richard Hampton, sons of Anthony, each of whom after- 
wards distinguished himself during the Revolution, had 
been sent by their neighbors to invite the Indians to a 
talk ; but the British emissaries had unfortunately been 
before them, and had already arranged for the uprising 
which now took place. In the absence of his sons the 
Indians fell upon Mr. Hampton and his family, killed 
him, his wife4 his son Preston, his infant grandson Har- 
rison, and burnt his house. Mrs. Harrison with her 
daugiiter and her husband were absent at a neighbor's, 
but returned in the midst of the conflagration. They 
were in great danger, but escaped. Edward, Henry, 
Richard, John, and Wade Hampton, who were then 
absent, were preserved to avenge the family ; so, too, was 
James Harrison, the son-in-law. 

This outbreak of the Indians caused the greatest con- 
sternation. The people were almost destitute of arms, 
having sold the best of their rifles to arm the rifle regi- 
ments and Rangers in the service. They were also in 
great want of ammunition. Nor would the men collect 
in bodies until they had disposed their families in places 
of comparative safety. Some fled as far as Orangeburgh. 
The country was desolated, — plantations abandoned, and 
crops left to go to ruin, as the people crowded into the 
little stockade forts. Several hundred men, women, and 
children of the heljjless inhabitants of the frontier fell a 
sacrifice to the tomahawk and scalping knife. 

VOL. HI. — O 



194 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Major Williamson, to whom the first news of the 
uprising was brought, lost no time in opposing the in- 
vasion ; but so great was the panic that although he 
dispatched expresses on all sides, only forty men were 
collected in two days. But with this little band, accom- 
panied by Mr. Salvador, he marched on the 3d of July to 
the house in which Captain Smith had been killed. On 
the next day forty more of the militia arrived. On the 
5th he mustered 110 men, and on the 8th his force was 
increased to 222, when he encamped at Holmes's field on 
Hogskin Creek, about four miles from the Cherokee line 
at De AVitt's Corner, now Due West. Here he remained 
until the IGth of July, Avhen, having collected 450 men, 
he advanced to Baker's Creek at a point a few miles above 
Moffettsville, in what is now Abbeville County. 

The inhabitants along the Saluda had taken refuge in 
an old fort called Lyndley's, near Rayborn Creek, where 
on the morning of the 15th of July they were attacked 
by 88 Indians and 102 white men, many of whom were 
painted and disguised as Indians. The Indians expected 
to have surprised the fort, and commenced the attack 
about one o'clock in the morning. Fortunately 150 men 
under Major Downes had arrived the evening before on 
their way to join Major Williamson, and with their assist- 
ance the attack was repulsed with a loss to the Indians 
of two of their chief warriors, and several were left 
dead upon the field. The garrison immediately pursued 
and took 13 white men prisoners, among them some 
painted and dressed as Indians. These were sent to 
Ninety-Six for safe-keeping ; it would have been better 
to have hanged them at once. Had this attack upon Fort 
Lyndley succeeded, it is probable that all the disaffected 
would at once have joined the Indians. It was against the 
people of this region that Colonel Richardson's expedition 



IN THE IIEVOLUTION 195 

had been directed ; and it was no doubt expected that tlie 
malcontents with whom Stuart and Cameron had been 
intriguing woukl rise and join them in the royal cause. 
This repulse, however, awed all the wavering, and many 
of the whites who had joined the Indians surrendered 
themselves. The news of the victory of the 28th of June 
arriving immediately after this affair, the designs of the 
disaffected were crushed, and the friends of the American 
cause were enabled to join Major Williamson in his march 
upon the Cherokees. 

On hearing of the outbreak of the Indians, President 
Rutledge had sent Captain Felix AVarley of the Third 
Regiment with a detachment of a hundred rangers as a 
convoy of wagons with arms, ammunition, and stores 
to Major Williamson, with orders to march against the 
Cherokees. Captain Warley, with his loaded convo}", 
marched from Charlestown to De Witt's Corner by the road 
along the Congaree in fourteen days. The news of the 
-victory of the 28th of June reached Williamson on the 
22d of Jul}'. Having been reenforced by Colonel Jack's 
regiment from Georgia and others to the number of about 
1150 men, and learning that Alexander Cameron, Stuart's 
deputy, had arrived a few days before from the over-hill 
settlements with thirteen white men, and that he was 
encamped at Oconore Creek about thirty miles distant, 
with some white men and the Essenecca Indians from the 
Keowee Kivor, Williamson determined to attack the camp 
at once before they could learn of his advance. Accord- 
ingly, about six o'clock in tlie evening of the 31st of July, 
taking with him two prisoners as guides, under threats of 
instant death in case of misbehavior, he put himself in 
motion with a detachment of 330 men on horseback, hop- 
ing to surprise the enemy by daybreak. The river Keo- 
wee running between Williamson's forces and Cameron's 



19G HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

party, and being only fordable at Essenecca, Williamson 
was obliged, though much against his inclination, to take 
the road to that ford. Unfortunately he proceeded without 
scouts or guard sul'liciently advanced to be of any service 
in warning his main body of danger. He was andjushed 
about two o'clock on the morning of the 1st of August in 
Essenecca town. The Indians, suffering the guides and 
advanced guard to pass, poured a heavy fire into the Will- 
iamson men, and they were thrown into confusion. ]\Iajor 
Williamson's horse was shot under him ; Mr. Francis 
Salvador, who had brought to Williamson the first news 
of the Indian uprising, was shot down by his side, and 
unfortunately immediately discovered by the Indians. He 
was scalped alive before he was found by his friends in the 
dark. What added to this misfortune was that after the 
action it appeared that Captain Smith, son of the Captain 
Aaron Smith who liad been murdered with his family, saw 
the Indians while in tlie act of taking off the scalp ; but 
supposing it was Mr. Salvador's servant assisting his- 
master, did not interfere to save his friend. Mr. Salva- 
dor died without being sensible of the savage cruelty 
which had been inflicted upon liim.^ 

Major Williamson's forces, completely surprised, broke 
away and fled in the greatest confusion. The enemy kept 
up a constant fire, which the retreating militia returned at 
random as dangerous to their friends who were willing to 
advance against the enemy as it was to the enem}^ them- 
selves. Fortunately Lieutenant Colonel Hammond rallied 
a party of about twenty men, and, making an unexpected 
charge, repulsed the savage foe and escaped. Tlie Indians 
lost but one man killed and three wounded ; of Major Will- 
iamson's party three died from their wounds and fourteen 

1 For an interesting sketch of this gentleman, see 3Iemoirs of the 
Bevohition (Drayton), vol. II, 247, 248. 



IN Till-: KliVOLUTION 197 

were badly injured. When daylii^lit arrived he burnt that 
part of Essenecca town wliich was on the eastern side of 
the Keowee River, and hiter Colonel Hammond crossed 
the river, burnt that on the western side as well, and 
destroyed all the provisions, computed at six thousand 
bushels of Indian corn, besides peas and other articles. 
The object of overtaking Cameron and his associates 
liaviufT l)een thus defeated, Williamson retreated and 
joined his camp at Twenty-three Mile Creek, where he 
expected to form a junction with detachments of Colonel 
Neel's and Colonel Thomas's regiments of militia. 

There was considerable jealousy of Williamson's com- 
mand ; he was but a major in the militia line, but 
President Kutledge had given him the appointment of 
commander-in-chief of the expedition, which entitled him 
to command others though colonels. To put an end to 
the question of rank he was about this time appointed 
colonel of the Ninety-Six regiment. Colonel Williamson 
resumed the offensive on the 2d of August, and on the 8th 
with (540 chosen men he marched to attack the Indian 
camp at Oconore ; finding it deserted, he destroyed two 
towns, Ostatoy and Tugaloo. He continued to advance 
until the 12th, when, coming up ^^ itli a large body of Ind- 
ians, he attacked and defeated them. They fled, leaving 
IG of their men dead in space of 150 yards ; Williamson 
losing killed and 17 wounded. In this expedition he 
destroyed the Indian towns of Tomassy, Chehohee, and 
Eustash. All corn on this side of the middle settlements 
was destroyed, and the Indians were driven to support 
themselves on roots, Ix'rries, and wild fruit. 

On Colonel Williamson's return to his camp he found 
that numbers of his men had gone home, forced to do so 
from fatigue, want of clothes, and other necessaries, and 
that many who had remained were in equal distress. He 



198 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was obliged therefore to grant furloughs ordering them 
to rejoin him at Essenecca on the 28th, to which place he 
marched on the 16th with about six hundred men. Here 
he erected a fort, which in honor of the President he 
called Fort Rutledge. 

Upon the breaking out of this war application had been 
made to North Carolina and Virginia to cooperate with 
the forces of South Carolina in this region. Each of 
these States complied and raised a body of troops. The 
first under General Rutherford, to act in conjunction with 
the South Carolinians on this side of the mountains, and 
the other under Colonel Christie, to act against the over- 
hill Cherokees. But Colonel Williamson had destroyed 
all the lower settlements before the North Carolinians 
under General Rutherford took the field. 

Colonel Williamson now having increased his force to 
2300 men, broke up the camp at Essenecca; leaving 300 
men as a guard to the inhabitants and as a garrison to 
Fort Rutledge, he marched with about 2000 men to 
cooperate with General Rutherford. A campaign ensued 
in which all the lower towns, middle settlements, and 
settlements in the valleys eastward of the Unacaye and 
Appalachian mountains were destroyed. In less than 
three months, that is, from the 15th of July to the 11th 
of October, 1776, the Cherokees were so far subdued 
as to be incapable of renewing hostilities. The whole 
loss of the Carolinians in killed and wounded was 99. 
The Cherokees lost about 2000. The natural difficulties 
of the country through which the campaign was made, 
over pathless mountains, through dark thickets, "rugged 
paths, and narrow defiles, called forth a patience in 
suffering and exertion in overcoming difficulties which 
would have done honor to veteran troops. None of all 
the expeditions before undertaken against the savages 



IN THE REVOLUTION 199 

had been so successful as this first effort of the new-born 
Commonwealth. 

The unfortunate and misled Indians, attacked on all 
sides, — from the north by the Virginians and North 
Carolinians, from the east by the South Carolinians, and 
from the south by the Georgians, — sued in the most abject 
terms for peace. A conference took place, at which com- 
missioners from Georgia also attended and concurred in 
and signed a treaty of pacification. By this treaty the 
Indians ceded a large part of their lands to the State of 
South Carolina. Tliis tract includes the present counties 
of Anderson, Pickens, Oconee, and Greenville. 

The double success in Carolina in 1776 was in marked 
contrast to the disasters at the North. The failure of the 
invasion of Canada, the loss of the battle of Long Island 
with Washington's perilous retreat, and the abandonment 
of New York had greatly disheartened the Americans. It 
was from South Carolina that there came the first encour- 
agement of a substantial victory over a combined British 
fleet and army, and still more of a decisive campaign 
against their Indian allies of the interior who had been 
brought into the field to coopei'ate with the British force 
on the coast. The Indian uprising was no doubt most 
injurious to his Majesty's cause in Carolina. The fact 
tiiat those savages had been instigated by the agents 
of the Royal government to rise upon the people of 
the frontier and indiscriminately to massacre the King's 
friends as well as his enemies, roused great indignation 
and resentment, and turned many a supporter of the Royal 
cause to the new government. But a great mistake was 
made on the part of the friends of the latter which to 
some extent neutralized the result. Robert Cuningham, 
who had been arrested by Major Williamson and confined 
in Charlestown by the order of the Congress since the 30th 



200 HISTORY 01 SOUTH CAROLINA 

of September, 1775, because he had not considered himself 
bound by the treaty of Ninety-Six, had been detained there 
in a manner, however, suitable to his standing among his 
own people at the public expense. He had been treated 
kindly, but had not been allowed to receive visits except 
occasionally from gentlemen well disposed to the Ameri- 
can cause. These took every opportunity of softening his 
antipathies and of persuading him to abandon the opposi- 
tion in which he had been engaged. In this they had so 
far prevailed that in February Robert Cuningham peti- 
tioned the Provincial Congress for leave to occup}^ here a 
position of neutrality; but this the Congress declined, and 
he had remained in confinement. It was now supposed 
that as the British invasion had been completely frustrated 
and the stability of the government fairly demonstrated, a 
generous policy toward Cuningham and other prisoners 
from the upper country who were in confinement with him 
might produce happy results. For this reason they were 
all released from custody and returned to their homes and 
friends. But so far from helping tlie American cause this 
wise act on the part of the President and his Council was 
resented by the friends of the new government in Ninety- 
Six and that neighborhood. Some looked upon it as turn- 
ing their enemies loose upon them at the very time they 
were being assailed by the Indians. Others regarded it a 
dangerous exercise of power by the President and Council, 
and contrary to the determination of the Provincial Con- 
srress. To such an extent did this dissatisfaction extend 
that when Cuningham in good faith presented himself 
at Williamson's headquarters, declaring himself a friend 
and that he luid come to join the expedition against the 
Cherokees, a mutiny was threatened in Williamson's camp, 
which was only suppressed by Williamson's advice to 
Cuninefham to return home and attend to his own busi- 



IN THE IIEVOLITION 201 

ness. Tims repulsed by the supporters of the American 
cause Cunin»^hani remained peaceably at home until the 
fall of Charlestown in 1780, when he was made a brigadier 
in the British provincial forces and placed in command of 
a garrison. Had President Rutledge's policy prevailed, 
Cuningham and many of his friends and their great influ- 
ence might have been secureil to a hearty su^^port of the 
Whig cause. 

The year 177(5, glorious as it M-as to the American cause 
in the South, did not however close with unalloyed success 
and satisfaction, (leneral Lee, who was now assuming all 
the glory of the battle of the 28th of June, and ready for 
anything that might add to his fame, allowed himself to 
be persuaded to undertake an expedition to Florida, which 
was to be no more successful than Oglethorpe's in 1740, 
and was to end even more disastrously, and this though 
without even a battle fought or a soldier wounded. 

The Loyalists who fled from the Carolinas and Georgia 
found a secure retreat in East Florida, from which the set- 
tlers of southern Georgia were frequently disturbed by the 
predatory incursions of l)anditti organized into a regiment 
which bore the name of Florida Rangers and of which 
Thomas IJrowne was now the Colonel and Daniel McGirth 
Lieutenant Colonel. Of Thomas Browne and of his igno- 
minious and cruel treatment by the Whigs of Georgia we 
have already spoken. Daniel McGirth, who was hence- 
forth to be known for his violence and cruelty, had alas ! 
also, if tradition is to be believed, great wrongs of his own 
to avenge.^ 

1 Dr. Johnson in his Traditions, 172. gives a most interesting story of 
Danii-l McCiirth. and of his cruel and outrageous treatment by American 
offi(-<Ts in (leorgia, — his public whipping upon a trumped-up charge, 
made for the purpose of having him dismissed from the army in order 
that an othcer might secure a valuable horse which McGirlh owned. 



202 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Mr. Jonathan Bryan, a gentleman of the highest cliar- 
acter and position in Savannah, and one of the most active 
patriots of Georgia, coming to Charlestown soon after the 
victory over the British fleet on the 28th of June, persuaded 
General Lee tliat there was glory and plunder in an ex- 
pedition to break up this Tor}^ band and to penetrate to 
St. Augustine. Without consulting any one. General Lee 
the next morning paraded the Virginia and North Caro- 
lina continentals, and commending them for their services, 
called upon them to volunteer for a secret expedition he 
had planned as a means of rewarding them ; he told them 
that the service was without danger and certain of suc- 
cess, and that a large booty would be obtained of which 
he offered to resign his share to them. General Lee's 
affected secrecy deceived no one. It was Avell known that 
the proposed expedition was to Florida, which, like Ogle- 
thorpe's, was considered ill advised at that season of the 
year. His appeal, too, to the troops was disapproved and 
condemned by the people of South Carolina as holding up 
to the soldiery booty, rather than liberty, as the purpose 
for which they had taken up arms. But General Lee was 
determined upon the expedition, and having persuaded 
the Virginia and North Carolina troops to volunteer, he 
applied to President Rutledge for the aid of his troops 
and ammunition, the troops of South Carolina not yet 
having been placed on the continental line, and conse- 
quently not under his orders. A detachment of two 
hundred and sixty was thereupon drawn from the South 
Carolina regiments to accompany him. 

McGirth, it is said, was of the highly respected family of that name in 
Camden, and related to the best families there. We have not been able 
to a.scertain whether he was the son of Colonel McGirth of tliat place, 
mentioned in a former volume [Hist, of So. Ca. iDuler Huy. Gov. 
(McCrady) 638], and also as a militia officer in 1775. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 203 

At tliis most unhealthy season of tlie year, midsummer, 
Lee marched off tliis body without supplies or necessa- 
ries, without a field-piece or a medicine chest. General 
Howe, who had recently come into the province, followed 
with Colonel Moultrie soon after. On Colonel ^Moultrie's 
arrival at Savannah Lee proposed to him to take command 
of an expedition ay;ainst St. Augustine, inquiring whether 
the fact that his brother. Dr. John Moultrie, being at St. 
Augustine as the Royal Lieutenant Governor of Florida, 
would be an objection to his doing so. Colonel Moultrie 
declared that that circumstance would not deter him, but 
that, if he undertook it, he must have eight hundred men 
and the necessaries for such a movement. Lee sent for 
the articles required by Moultrie, and they Avere prepar- 
ing for the march when an express arrived from the Con- 
tinental Congress calling Lee to Philadelphia. Lee left 
Savannah two days after, ordering the Virginia and North 
Carolina troops to follow him, leaving the South Carolina 
detachment to sicken and die in the swamps of the Oge- 
chee. The expedition was at an end. The troops had 
neither met nor had they even seen an enemy, but they 
had suffered more than if they had endured a bloody cam- 
p»aign. The sickness and mortality from the climate at 
this season were worse than battle. At Sunbury, the 
advanced position reached, fourteen or fifteen men were 
buried every day. There was scarce an officer of the 
South Carolina detachment who was not dangerously ill. 
General Lee arrived in Charlestown on the 8th of Septem- 
ber, where he was prevailed upon to leave the North Caro- 
lina continentals in South Carolina, as the South Carolina 
troops had been left in Georgia.^ lie hurried on to join 
Washington in the Jerseys, where he was hailed as the 
deliverer of the South. Tie encouraged the contrast 
1 Moultrie's ^fcm(>il•s, vol. I. 184-187. 



204 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

between his successes tliere and Washiiii^ton's defeat on 
Long Island. lie was, in fact, the military idol of the 
day, members of Washington's immediate family joining 
in their homage to him, to the disparagement of their 
own chief. Fortunately for the colonies, he was captured 
at an outpost by the enemy, through his own negligence 
and disobedience of Washington's orders, before the year 
was at an end, if, indeed, his capture was not a part of 
his treachery. 

On tlie 17th of September, 1776, the Continental Con- 
gress appointed Colonel Christopher Gadsden and Colonel 
William Moultrie Brigadier Generals, whereupon Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney became 
Colonel, jNLajor William Cattell, Lieutenant Colonel, and 
Captain Adam McDonald Major of the First Regiment of 
Infantry ; and Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Motte Colonel, 
Major Francis jNIarion Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain 
Peter Horry jNIajor of the Second Regiment. On the 
20t]i of the same month the General Assembly turned 
over the six regular regiments, to wit, the First and Sec- 
ond Regiments of Infantry, the regiment of Rangers, the 
regiment of artillery, and the two regiments of rifle- 
men, to the continental establishment.^ 

1 Memoirs of the EeTohttion (Drayton), vol. II, 337, 383; Moultrie's 
Memoirs, vol. I, 187. 



CHAPTER X 

1777-78 

The history of South Carolina from this time forth is 
that of the State. The Royal province was now entirely 
at an end. The last Royal Governor, Lord William 
Campbell, had sailed away, mortally wounded in his final 
attempt to reestablish his government ; and as the sails 
of the vessel whicli bore him disappeared over tlie hori- 
zon, there had come the news of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. There were to follow years of as bloody a civil 
war as ever stained the history of a people. But through 
it and from it all was to come the State of South Carolina, 
the undivided sovereignty of which was to be the corner- 
stone of the faith of all its people. From English and 
HuflTuenot, from Scotch and Irisli and Welsh, from Ger- 
man and Swiss, and from Whig and Tory, whose hands 
were now to be dyed in each other's blood, was to come a 
people of marked characteristics, and to the rest of the 
world of a peculiarly homogeneous character, but whose 
distinguishing trait was to be their fealty and devotion 
to their State. 

The ball of revolution which had been started was now 
kept going, and given a direction not at all to the wishes 
of many who liad helped to put it in motion. We have 
pointed out the anomalous fact in the history of the 
Revolution in South Carolina that all of its leaders Avere 
churchmen, and tliat the dissenters took no conspicuous 
part in the movement. The leaders of the Revolntion in 
South Carolina, with the exception of Gadsden, perhaps, 

205 



206 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

were cavaliers in lieart — they were devoted to the 
throne and to the cliurch. The ministry of George the 
Third had repulsed them, and they had at last broken 
with the King, and had, many of them, in sorrow and in 
tears acquiesced in the Declaration of Independence ; but 
the church remained ; and when they would fast and 
pray for God's guidance and protection in this new gov- 
ernment they had set up and were trying to establish, it 
Avas still to the old St. Philip's they would wend their 
way and with the old ritual — to them a necessary part 
of any State ceremonial — that they would offer their 
supplications. The Constitution of 1776, while it had 
discarded the King, had not meddled with the church. 
But now the " White Meetners " — the Congregationalists 
under the lead of the Rev. William Tennent, a Presby- 
terian clergyman, a native of New Jersey who had recently 
come from a Congregational church in Connecticut, 
whom the Council of Safety had sent on the mission to 
the upper part of the State with William Henry Dray- 
ton in 1775 — had begun to clamor for its disestablish- 
ment. This was, no doubt, the necessary logical result 
of the Revolution the churchmen had inaugurated. Nay, 
they themselves had rendered it inevitable ; for had they 
not, for the purpose of winning over to their cause against 
the King, the Presbyterians of the upper country, sent 
Mr. Tennent on that mission ? And could they have 
expected the Presbyterians to go into the Revolution and 
consent to allow them to retain their church establish- 
ment ? Did they not understand that an established 
church and a republic were inconsistent ? Perhaps now 
they realized this, but it was none the less a bitter truth 
to admit. 

Mr. Tennent began the agitation of the question whether 
there was to be any religious establishment of one denomi- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 207 

nation of Christians over another under the new order of 
things. He wrote a memorial upon the subject, which 
was printed and scattered broadcast throughout the 
})rovince, especially in the upper country. A copy of 
tliis memorial was sent to Colonel William Hill in tlie 
New Acquisition, — now York County, — the same Colonel 
Hill whom we shall see distinguishing himself as an officer 
under Sumter ; and in a manuscript memoir of the times 
Colonel Hill tells that he procured the signature to it of 
as many names as possible ; indeed, he says he induced 
the women to sign their names as well as the men, as he 
did not believe that women have no souls. The memorial, 
he writes, was at first regarded as a novelty and matter 
of surprise ; but that when the principles were properly 
examined they were found to be true. Many thousand 
signatures were thus obtained, and the matter was pre- 
pared and ready for the General Assembly when it should 
meet.^ 

Tlie new General Assembly met in December, 1776, 
and following the custom of the Royal Governors, Presi- 
dent John Rutledge made the body a speech in opening 
the session. It was with great satisfaction, he declared, 
he met so full a representation of the free and indepen- 
dent State elected under a constitution, many benefits of 
wliich had already been generally diffused. He recom- 
mended measures for su[)porting the authority of the 
government, — sustaining its credit, preserving the peace 
of the State, and rendering the militia a more effectual 
defence against the enemy ; and then after minor matters 
he concluded : — 

" The most remote districts being now immediately 
represented by persons cliosen therein, the exercise of 
which riglit could not be obtained from royal justice or 
1 Ilist. Presbyterian Church in So. Ca. (Howe), vol. I, 370. 



208 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

favor (though often solicited, the want of it having been 
severely felt), their local and particular grievances may 
be disclosed by their respective members." Hugh Rut- 
ledge, brother of the President, was chosen Speaker of the 
Legislative Council, and in their behalf he returns thanks 
to his Excellency for his speech and congratulates him on 
his being elected to the honorable station of presiding 
over the State. John Mathews, Speaker of the General 
Assembly, also congratulates the President on the first 
meeting of a legislature chosen by a free people under a 
happy and virtuous constitution. Mr. Speaker Mathews 
also alludes to the fact that the remote districts were now 
immediately represented in the legislative body of the 
State — a privilege, he said, hitherto cruelly withheld by 
the unrelenting tyranny of the King's government. 

These remote districts, however, and indeed the par- 
ishes as well, were but in a few instances represented by 
persons who could claim the authority of a general popu 
lar election. We shall see Rawlins Lowndes, when Presi 
dent in a few months after, declaring that members were 
often returned to the House by two or three of the inhabit- 
ants, sometimes indeed with no vote at all but that of the 
returning officer; and Colonel Hill gives us a like account 
of the election of members in the New Acquisition. He 
says the citizens there met and sent five men; but that 
these were not chosen by ballot, but were named by such 
as pleased to do so. There was dissatisfaction with the 
action of this caucus, for it was probably nothing more, 
and he tells us that a short time after the Representatives 
so chosen had gone to Charlestown and taken their seats, 
some citizens came to him at his Iron Works and com- 
plained of the manner in which those who liad gone Iiad 
been chosen. Whereupon a Dutchman who had lately 
come from Pennsylvania advised him to convene the citi- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 209 

zens on a certain day and elect by ballot. This, he says, 
was done, and the second set elected were allowed their 
seats with the otlier five. This will account, he says, for 
tlie fact that the New Acquisition had ten members for 
a number pf years when the three other districts between 
the Broad and Catawba had together only the same 
number.^ Colonel Hill when he wrote this in 1815 had 
certainly forgotten something of the constitutional his- 
tory of the State, but his account of this election is 
valuable as showing how loosely these elections were 
conducted in the upper country, and how little they can 
be relied upon as representing the sentiment of the mass 
of the people. It is evident that the representatives of 
the remote districts whose prudence was so commended by 
the President, represented in fact only those who volun- 
tarily came together for the purpose of sending them, 
without writs of election or other formality, and without 
any general notice or mode of procedure in doing so. 

The debate on the subject of the church came up on 
the dissenters' petition in January, 1777, and on the 11th 
Mr. Tennent, who was a member of the Assembly, made 
an exceedingly able speech contending that ecclesiastical 
establishments were an infringement on civil liberty. 
The rights of conscience, he maintained, were unalienable, 
and all laws binding upon it ipso facto null and void. 
Such, he contended, was the law prevailing in Carolina. 
The law acknowledges one society as a Christian church, 
it does not know the other at all. Under a reputedly 
free government licenses for marriage were refused by 
the ordinary to any but the established clergy. The law 
builds superb churches for the one; it leaves the others 

1 The districts alluded to were Chester, Fairfield, and Richland, — the 
Broad River changing its name to Coiigaree, and the Catawba becoming 
the Wateree. 

VOL. ni. — p 



210 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to build their own. The law enables the one church to 
hold estates and to sue for rights; but no dissenting 
church can sue at common law. They are obliged to 
deposit their property Avitli trustees. The law vests in 
the Church of England power to tax their own people, 
and all other denominations for the support of the poor. 
The sums advanced by the public Treasury for the support 
of the Church of England, for the ten years preceding the 
31st of December, 1775, amount to <£1G1,027 16s. 3c?. (cur- 
rency). The expenses of the year 1772 was- ,£18,031 lis. Id. 
The real estate drawn more or less from the purses of all 
denominations by law would 2")robably sell for X 330,000. 
If the dissenters have always made more than half of the 
government, the sum taken out of their pockets for the 
support of a church with which they did not worship 
must amount to more than £82,013 within the ten years, 
and a very large sum of their property in glebes, parson- 
ages, and churches lies in the possession and improvement 
of the Church of England. Meanwhile, said ]Mr. Tennent, 
the established churches are but twenty in number, many 
of them very small, while the number of dissenting con- 
gregations are seventy-nine, and much larger, and would 
pay £40,000 annually could they be furnished with a 
clergy. To the objection that dissenters were tolerated, 
Mr. Tennent asked if it would content these brethren 
of the Church of England to be barely tolerated, that is, 
not punished for presuming to think for themselves. It 
was not the threepence on the pound of tea that roused all 
the valor of America, he exclaimed, it is our birthright 
we prize. Religious establishments, he continued, dis- 
courage the opulence and discourage the growth of a free 
State. With the new Constitution, let the day of justice 
dawn upon every rank and order of man in the State. 
Let us bury Avhat is past forever. We even consent, he 



IN THE REVOLUTION 211 

said, tliat the estate which the church has for a century 
])ast been drawing more or less from the purses of all 
denominations — an estate of no less value than ,£380,000 
— remain in her quiet possession and be fixed there. Let 
her only for the future cease to demand preeminence. We 
seek no restitution. Let her be contented with her superb 
churches, her spacious burying-grounds, her costly parson- 
ages, her numerous glebes and other church estates, and 
U't her not now insist upon sueli glaring partiality any 
longer. Many of the Church of England, he declared, had 
signed the petition. Many more have declared the senti- 
ments in the most liberal terms. They do not desire any 
longer to oppress their brethren. Grant them the prayer 
of the petition, grant it in substance if not in the very 
expression. Let it be a foundation article in j^our consti- 
tution. " That there shall be no establishment of one 
religious denomination of Christians in preference to 
another. That none shall be obliged to pay to the sup- 
])()rt of a Avorship in which they do not freel}' jt>iii-" 
Yield to the mighty current of American freedom and 
gh)ry, and let your State be inferior to none on the wide 
continent in the liberality of the laws and in the happi- 
ness of its people." ^ 

Most eloquently, indeed, did Mr. Tennent then plead 
for principles which are now universally accepted in this 
country at least. True, some of his statements were open 
to fair criticism. The bulk of the seventy-nine congrega- 
tions of dissenters, upon which he based his calculations, 
wore in the newly settled Up Country which notoriously 
paid few taxes. The tax-gatherers were as few there as 
ministers of the law. The Low Country, in which was the 
great wealth of the i)rovince, paid all the taxes, and the 
taxal)le property there was, to a great extent, owned by 
^ Hist. Presbyterian Church in So. Ca. (Howe), vol. I, 370, 371. 



212 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

churchmen ; and they consequently contributed by far the 
most to the support of the church. But this only affected 
the argument in degree and not in principle. The fact 
still was that dissenters were made to contribute more or 
less to the church in which they did not worship, and that 
the church was made the basis of representation and mu- 
nicipal authority. The argument was of course all on one 
side; but there was a deep sentiment on the other — a 
sentiment, offence to which was particularly unfortunate 
at this juncture. The churchmen had sown the wind, they 
were now reaping the whirlwind. They had overthrown 
the King's authority ; the dissenters were now overturning 
the church. 

A letter written about this time, January 18, 1777, by 
Richard Hutson, a son of a former minister of the Con- 
gregational church in Charlestown, to Isaac Hayne, his 
brother-in-law, the future martyr to the cause of Ameri- 
can liberty, gives so clear an account of the condition of 
parties at this time that we cannot do better than quote 
it at length. Mr. Hutson writes to Mr. Hayne : — 

" I think it will be extraordinary if I should give you the first in- 
telligence of your election as a Representative in Assembly for the 
Parish of St. Paul, Stono. It will indeed convince me that you are a 
recluse. The return was made to the House on Wednesday last. It 
is said that you had but four votes, and it has been thrown out by 
some of the high churchmen that were they in your situation they 
would not serve, but I hope you will make it a point at this juncture, 
as we stand in need of your assistance. The Dissenters' Petition came 
before the House on Saturday last. It was introduced and warmly 
supported by General (iadsden. In order to give you a general idea of 
the debates, it will be necessary to quote the paragrapii, which it was 
the prayer of the Petition might be inserted in the Constitution. It 
runs thus : That there never shall be any establishment of any one 
Denomination or sect of Protestants by way of preference to another 
in this State. That no Protestant inhabitant of this State shall, by 
law, be obliged to pay towards the maintenance and support of a reli- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 213 

gious worship that he does not freely join in or has not voluntarily 
engaged to support, nor to be denied the enjoyment of any civil right 
merely on account of his religious principles, but that all Protestants 
demeaning themselves peaceably under the government established 
under the constitution shall enjoy free and equal privileges, both re- 
ligious and civil. Messrs. Lowndes and Pinckney ^ threw off the masque 
and argued strongly for having the church continued upon its former 
footing, the rest pretended to acquiesce cheerfully in the latter part of 
the clause (viz.) that no Protestant inhabitant of this State shall, by 
law, be obliged to pay towards the maintenance and support of a re- 
ligious worship that he does not freely join in, &c., but jilead that it was 
necessary that the establishment of the church should be continued 
on account of the provision of the poor and the management of elec- 
tions which were interwoven with law, and they proposed that this 
clause should be amended by striking out the former part of it (viz.) 
'that there never shall be an establishment of anyone Denomination, 
or sect of Protestants, by way of preference to another in this State.' 
After very long and warm debate upon the subject the question was at 

length put upon the amendment, it passed in the negative, -^ — — -. 

The question was then put upon the whole clause, and it was unan- 
imously agreed to. "We yesterday finished the difficult Reports 
of the committee on the Constitution with regard to amendments 
therein, and it is now ordered to be thrown into a Bill. A motion 
will be made, and I have no doubt but it will be carried, to have it 
printed and circulated through the State, and to postpone the passing 
of it till the next session, when I expect they will renew the attack 
upon that clause. So we shall have as much occasion of your presence 
as ever." 

As ^Ir. Ilutson predicted, the Assembly postponed for 
the present this important step ; but they made another, 
and a most decisive one — one from which there was no 
returning eitlier with honor or safety. They had adopted 
the Dechiration of Independence, and they now (Feb- 
ruary 13, 1777) passed an ordinance for establishing an 
oath of abjuration of the King and of allegiance to the 
State. They ordained that tlie President with the advice 
1 Colonel Charles Pinckney. 



214 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the Privy Council should appoint proper persons to 
administer an oath to all the late officers of the King of 
Great Britain, and all other persons whom the President 
and Privy Council should suspect of holding' principles in- 
jurious to the right of the State. This oath recjuired any 
such person to declare that lie acknowledged the State of 
South Carolina is and of right ought to be a free, inde- 
pendent, and sovereign State, and that the people thereof 
owe no allegiance or obedience to George the Third, King 
of Great Britain, to abjure any allegiance or obedience to 
him, to swear that he would to the utmost of his power 
support, maintain, and defend the State against the said 
George tlie Third and his successors, and to swear further 
that he would bear faith and true allegiance to the State, 
and to the utmost of his power, support, maintain, and 
defend the freedom and independence thereof. They 
further ordained that if any person refused to take this 
oath lie should be sent from the State with his family 
to Europe or the West Indies at the public expense, except 
such as were able to pay their own, and that if any such 
person returned he should be adjudged guilty of treason 
against the State, and upon conviction should suffer death 
as a traitor. 1 

Upon the organization of the government under the 
Constitution of 177G, says Drayton, tlie necessity of hav- 
ing a seal became apparent, and by a resolution of the 
General Assembly his Excellency the President and Com- 
mander-in-chief by and with tlie advice and consent of 
the General Assembly was authorized to design and cause 
to be made a great seal of South Carolina, and until such 
a one could be made to adojjt a temporary one. 

In pursuance of this resolution William Henry Dray- 
ton and otlicrs of the I'rivy Council Mere cliarged with 
' Stat, at Lar(jr, vol. I, 135. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 215 

designing a seal, and in the meantime a temporary one 
was adopted for immediate use. The first use of the 
temporary seal was for comnussioning the civil officers of 
the government, and for a pardon issued by President Rut- 
ledge dated the 1st of May, 177G, to a person who had been 
convicted of manslaughter before Chief Justice Drayton 
and his associate justices on the 28d of April. This tem- 
porary seal was from that time until about the 22d of May 
designated " the Temporary Seal of the said Colony " or 
''The Temporary Public Seal"; on that day President 
Ilutledge issued a pardon under " the Seal of the said 
State,'' omitting the word " temporary," whence there is 
reason to believe the great seal was then made. The 
seal thus adopted has continued to be the great seal of 
the State of South Carolina to this day.^ 

1 Memoirs of the Bevolntion (Drayton), vol. II, 372, 376. 

The device for the armorial achievemeut and reverse of the great 
seal of South Carolina is as follows : — 

Arms : a palmetto tree growing on seashore, erect ; at its base a 
tom-up oak tree, its branches lopped off, prostrate ; both proper. Just 
below the branches of the palmetto, two shields, pendent ; one of them 
on the dexter side is inscribed March 26, proper ; the other side, July 4. 
Twelve spears, proper, are bound crosswise to the stem of the palmetto, 
their points raised, the band uniting them together bearing the inscrip- 
tion Qitis Separnhit. Under the prostrate oak is inscribed Meliorem 
Lapsa Locavit, below which appears in large figures 1776. At the sum- 
mit of the exergue are the words south Carolina ; and at the bottom 
of the same, animis orinLSQiE parati. 

Reverse : a woman walking on the seashore over swords and daggers ; 
she holds in her dexter hand a laurel branch, and in her sinister the folds 
of her robe ; she looks toward the sun just rising above the sea ; all 
proper. On the upper part is the .sky, azure. At the summit of the 
exergue are the words dum spiro spero, and within the field below 
the figure is inscribed the word spes. The seal is in the form of a circle, 
four inches diameter and four-tentlis of an inch thick. 

The preiiaration of the seal was ordered in March, 1776, but it is 
apparent that this design was not made until after the victory of the 
28th of June. 



216 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The victory of Sullivan's Island gave exemption to 
South Carolina from invasion for nearly three yeai"s. Dur- 
ing this she felt few of the terrors of war — those were 
yet to come. But the harbor of Charlestown was block- 
aded, to a greater or less extent, until the fall of the city 
in 1780. British cruisers were constantly hovering off 
the bar and making prizes of vessels attempting to enter 
or leave the port. The vessels of war Carrlsford, of thirty- 
two guns, the Perseus, twenty, and the Hinchenhrook, six- 
teen, were often in sight of the town. The immense 
trade with England was of course now at an end. War 
had practically enforced non-importation. The old mer- 
chants unwilling to risk their capital generally retired 
from business, but adventurers sent out vessels to the 
Dutch and French West Indies. Nor could the State 
government sit idly by and allow the British cruisers all 
the honor and profit of capturing prizes. The Continen- 
tal Congress had authorized reprisals, and South Carolina 

The arms were designed by William Henry Drayton. The fort con- 
structed of palmetto logs, suggesting the emblem of the palmetto tree on 
the seashore ; the date on the shield, March 26, alludes to the adoption 
of the Constitution of the State, and that of July 4 to the Declaration of 
Independence. The twelve spears represent, it is said, the twelve States 
which first acceded to the Union ; but we rather suppose that they were 
meant to represent the twelve other colonies besides South Carolina, which 
were thus indicated as being bound to her. The dead oak tree alludes to 
the British fleet as being constructed of oak timbers, and lying prostrate 
under the palmetto tree. Hence tlie inscription of Mdiorpm Lapsa Locavit 
is appropriately placed underneath it. The figures 1 776 allude, of course, 
to the three memorable events, — the adoption of the Constitution of the 
State, the victory of Fort Moultrie, and the Declaration of Independence. 

The reverse of the arms is said to have been designed by Arthur 
Middleton. The woman walking along the seashore strewn with swords 
and daggers represents Hope f)verooniing dangers, which tlie sun just 
rising was about to disclose in the occurrences of tlie 28th of June, 1770, 
while the laurel she holds signifies the honors which Colonel Moultrie, 
his olficers and men, gained on that auspicious day. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 217 

organized a small navy of her own to venture upon that 
business. The shi[) Prosper^ whieh had been fitted out in 
1775, was mounted with twenty guns. Three schooners, — 
the Comet, tlie Defence, and the Beaufort, — which had been 
used as galleys for the protection of inland navigation, were 
converted into brigs. These vessels were put under the 
order of a navy board consisting of Edward Blake, Roger 
Smith, Josiah Smith, Edward Darrell, Thomas Corbet, 
John Edwards, George Abbott Hall, and Thomas Savage. 
The board added another vessel ; they built a brig of 
fourteen guns whieh they called the Hornet. These 
vessels evading tlie British men-of-war cruising upon the 
high seas succeeded in bringing in several prizes. In the 
year 1777 the continental frigate Randolph, Captain 
Biddle, put into Charlestown in distress, and being refitted 
she sailed on a cruise, and in eight days returned with four 
rich prizes. These encouraged the State to attempt some- 
thing more in the same way. The ship General Moultrie, 
Captain Sullivan, the brig Polly, Captain Anthony, and the 
brig Fair American, Captain Morgan, belonging to private 
persons, were taken into the public service, and as we 
shall see were, with the continental frigate Randolph and 
another State vessel, the brig Notre Dame, lost the next 
year in an unfortunate expedition. 

The great advantages resulting to the State from her 
little navy, and the distress sustained by the trade for 
want of protection, induced a scheme for purchasing or 
building three frigates. Alexander Gillon, an extensive 
merchant of the town, was ap})()inted commodore, and John 
Joyner, William Robertson, and John McQueen, captains, 
of the proposed fleet, and sailed for Europe to procure 
the frigates. This, however, because of various embarrass- 
ments from intercepted remittances and other causes, he 
was unable to do. Gillon accomplished nothing more than 



218 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to purchase on credit for the use of the State a quantity 
of clothing and ammunition, and to hire a large frigate 
from the Chevalier Luxembourg for the term of three 
years, on condition of allowing the Prince one-fourth of 
the prizes captured while she cruised at the risk and ex- 
pense of South Carolina. 1 The frigate engaged was built 
at Amsterdam, of a particular construction, heavy in di- 

1 The author is not unmindful of the very interesting story told in 
Dr. Johnson's Traditions, 127-129, of an exploit by Mr. Gillon before 
his appointment as commodore, but he has not been able to adopt it. 
The story is that sometime in the year 1777-78, the harbor being block- 
aded by three British cruisers, Alexander Gillon, a merchant, volunteered 
to go out with the only armed vessel in the port and raise the blockade 
if the Governor would sanction it and would supply him with a sufficient 
number of marines ; that the Governor did so, and drafted the marines 
from the regulars in the State service ; that disguising the vessel as a 
merchantman attempting to run the blockade, Gillon sailed out, and toll- 
ing on one of the British cruisers which was distant from the others until 
in the pursuit he had separated it to some distance, he suddenly ran 
alongside his pursuer, threw out his grappling irons, and at the head of his 
marines, boarded and captured her. Then dividing his men and his pris- 
oners between the two vessels, and hoisting a British flag over his own 
vessel, he made easy sail to the next, which, supposing her consort to 
have made a capture, allowed him to run alongside of her also, and 
likewise to capture ; and so also with the third. The story will not bear 
a moment's examination. The three British cruisers which blockaded 
the harbor were the Carrisford, the Perseus, and the Ilinchenhrook, as 
mentioned in the text. None of these was captured until April, 1779, 
when the last was taken in a gallant action by Colonel Elbert of Georgia 
while lying at Frederica in that State. It is impossible to suppose 
that such a brilliant performance would have been suppressed by both 
Dr. Ramsay and General Moultrie, who were present and personally 
cognizant of all that was going on, especially as both of these give in 
detail an account of Mr. Gillon's action in regard to a State navy, and 
still more especially as General Moultrie must have particularly known 
of the detail of the troops for the purpose. It is equally impossible to 
suppose tliat the Gazettes, which during the years 1777 and 1778 give 
daily account of the British cruisers off the bar and the captures made 
by them, and also of the captures made by the State navy, would have 
omitted to mention so extraordinary an affair. Tlie author has searched 



IX THE REVOLUTION 219 

meiisioii, equal to a sevcnty-four-giin ship. Commodore 
(iilloii engaged on behalf of South Carolina 280 marines 
and 69 seamen to man this frigate. These were kept at 
Dunkirk for several months until the ship could be got into 
the Texel, as her draught prevented her getting out from 
Amsterdam with the men aboard. While waiting for the 
frigate, the men, though engaged, fed, paid, and clothed 
with the money of the State of South Carolina, were sent 
without the knowledge of Commodore Gillon on an expe- 
dition against the island of Jersey, and so many of them 
were killed in that unfortunate ex[)edition in January, 
1781, that the frigate was disabled from going to sea till 
the August following. After innumerable difficulties she 
began to cruise, and in a short time captured several valua- 
l>le prizes. She took part in an expedition against the Ba- 
hama Islands in May, 1782, and upon the termination of that 
expedition arrived in Philadelphia. Completely repaired 
there she put to sea from that port under the command of 
Captain Jo3ner, and on the second day out was captured 
by the British under circumstances which reflected hardly 
upon Captain Joyner'-s conduct. In the spirited attempt 
to create a luivy South Carolina lost heavily. Ramsay 
estimates the cost, including the intercepted remittances 
and the clothing and ammunition purchased by Com- 
mander (iillon for the public service, with disbursements 
on account of the frigate, at over $<200,000, but other 
estimates put it at more than twice that amount, to wit, 
£100,000 sterling, or .t500,000.i 

the Gazette and can find no mention of the occurrence. The story is 
evidently based upon Governor Robert Johnson's exploit in the year 
1718, when he captured the pirate vessels by a similar ruse [see Hist. 
i\f Sit. f'n. under J'rop. Gcni. (McCrady), fil2, (UCt], and partly on the 
draft (if regulars to serve as marines on the lixndolph, and of their loss, 
of whioh we shall presently tell. 

1 Ramsay's lievolutiun, vol. II, 72-75; Johnson's TraiUtions, 127-1;j1. 



220 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Soon after the trade between Great Britain and South 
Carolina liad been closed a few adventurous individuals 
began, as we have said, to send vessels to the Dutch and 
French West Indies Islands. The scarcity of salt was 
easily foreseen, and to prevent the advantage which might 
be taken of the needs of the people on this account eight 
gentlemen entered into a partnersliip and employed six 
swift-sailing vessels in Bermuda, which they employed in 
transporting that necessary article. They continued their 
business until one after the other all their vessels were 
taken. The demand for imported goods, the stoppage of 
all commerce with Great Britain, and the blockade of the 
port, though the blockade was not at all times effectual, 
greatly excited the spirit for adventure, and the running 
of the blockade of Charlestown in 177G-78 was the proto- 
type of that of 1862-65. All the well-known devices of 
foreign registers, foreign captains, and foreign flags, French, 
Dutch, English, or Americaji, were employed as the exi- 
gency of the case required. The opportunity to sell 
imported articles dear, and to buy country produce cheap, 
was so great that during the 3'ears 1776 and 1778 the safe 
arrival of two vessels would indemnify the loss of one. 
During these years in which the war was confined almost 
entirely to the Northern States Charlestown became the 
mart of supplying with goods most of the States as far as 
New Jersey. Many hundreds of wagons were employed in 
the traffic. For the encouragement of trade two insurance 
companies opened offices which greatly forwarded the ex- 
tension of commerce. A direct trade to France was at- 
tempted, and French vessels found their way into the port. 
The intercourse in the commencement proved unfortunate, 
for out of sixteen vessels richly laden with commodities of 
the country four only arrived safely in France. This heavy 
blow for a short time damped the spirit of enterprise, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 221 

but it soon revived. Attempts were now made by block- 
ade-running to procure military supplies, wliicli the unwise 
non-importation business had prevented while the ports 
were open. Three vessels were employed ])y the State for 
the purpose of obtaining supplies and clothing for the new- 
raised regiments in the State and continental service, but 
it was the good fortune of but one to succeed in bringing 
in a cargo. Two with guns and clothing were captured. 
The spirit of adventure daily increased, a considerable 
trade though of course much inferior to what had been 
usual in times of peace was carried on in this manner ; at 
no times it was said -were fortunes more easily or rapidly 
acquired — and it may be added, more easily or rapidly 
lost. Occasionally the market would be enriched by a 
prize taken by the continental or State navy and success- 
fully brought into port, but the trade had not only the 
British cruisers to dread, still more discouraging was the 
old non-importation idea exhibiting itself in embargoes by 
■which fin- militar}' purposes tlio sailing of vessels was inter- 
dicted.^ The depreciation of the currenc}' was also creat- 
ing great distress among the people generally, especially 
in Charlestown, where provisions of all kinds rose rapidly 
in price as the currency declined in A'alue. The G-azette of 
April 24, 1777, states that the extravagant price of pro- 
visions brought to the market almost exceeds belief. Beef 
has been sold at 7s. 6(7. per pound, mutton £h the quarter. 
Fresh butter 10s. and salt butter 8s. \)d. the pound. Tur- 
keys ,£0 and geese £4 the pair ; corn blades X4 the one 
liundred pound, and other things in proportion. The 
distress of tlu; poor, tlie Gazette said, demands the more 
serious consideration, and it suggests a subscription to be 
set on foot for supplying the market at more reasonable 
rates. In May provisions continued at most exorbitant 
1 Ramsay's livrolution. vol. II, I'l-ll. 



222 HISTOIIY OF SOUTH CAIIOLIXA 

rates. Influenced by disinterested patriotism, some gen- 
tlemen sent provisions to town with orders to their ser- 
vants, who were their hucksters, not to demand al)Ove 
certain moderate prices whatever others might ask. The 
commissioners of the market in Charlestown required that 
the owners of provisions shouhl provide tickets stipulat- 
ing the price asked, so as to put a check on the exorbitant 
demands of those selling them, and they punished with fine 
and imprisonment those who violated these regulations. 
But the evil continued to isuch an extent that the General 
Assembly took up the matter, and by an act reciting that 
by the common practice of persons buying up and engross- 
ing at public vendue sales large quantities of commodities 
at extravagant prices without regard to their value, with a 
view of obtaining an unreasonable advance in retailing the 
same, the price of almost every necessary article had been 
raised to a most exorbitant and expensive height, whereby 
it was extremely difficult for the poor and industrious to 
procure the common conveniences of life, and that the cur- 
rency both of the Continent and of the State had lieen 
greatly depreciated, to the imjDoverishment of many honest 
craftsmen and others who, by misspending and loitering 
their time in expectation of gaining bargains at such sales 
and outcries, had greatly neglected their respective occu- 
pations, prohibited these sales of goods at public vendue 
in the State. ^ The Assembly also passed another act 
reciting the association of the Continental Congress, de- 
claring against every species of extravagance and dissipa- 
tion, especially against horse-racing, and providing that 
if any person should violate the said Association b}^ any 
manner of horse-racing, he should forfeit the money lie bet 
and the horse so run.^ Again arose the non-importation 
idea, and an ordinance was passed declaring that it was 
1 Stahites at Lanjc, vol. IV, 395. = Ibid., 394 



IN Till': ilKVOLUTION 223 

liit^hly impolitic as well as injurious to the interests and 
safety of the State that any conmiercial intercourse should 
be carried on Mith any of the dominions of the King of 
(ircat Britain, and forbidding under penalty of forfeiture 
the importation of any goods from them. 

While the General Assembly was thus engaged, and 
was busy also providing for the raising of money and 
the stamping of bills of credit and for the maintenance of 
the government, it Avas still alive to the necessity of pro- 
viding for the education of the youth of the State during 
these troublous times, and, as we have seen, were establish- 
ing schools at ^^'innsboro, Camden, and on the Wateree.^ 

Dr. Ramsay gives a very able and interesting account 
of tlie currency in South Carolina during this period. ^ 
lie tells us that the paper money issued by Congress 
retained its value undiminished longer in South Carolina 
than in other parts of the United States. There was no 
sensil)le depreciation of it at the end of 1776, notwith- 
standing the loss of New York and other British victories 
at the North threatening the subversion of American 
independence. ]\[en of property had now so generally 
come forward in support of the Revolution that their 
influence was supposed to be fully equal to the mainte- 
nance of the new currenc}', even in a Royal house of 
assembly, if the conquest of the State should restore the 
King's government. The immense value of the staple 
conunodities of the country, the animation and apparent 
unanimity and enthusiasm of the people, precluded all fear 
of its iinally sinking. AVhen the depreciation took place 
it originated. Dr. Ramsay thinks, from other causes than 
a distrust of the final success of the Revolution. 

The emission of a paper currency in 1775 and 177(), he 

' Ilist. of So. Co. umJpr Ito>f. Gov. (MrCrady), 502, 504. 
2 llauisay's Jiciolution in iSu. Ca., vol. II, 77-100, 



224 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

maintains, was of real advantage to the State of South 
Carolina, for the whole money then in circulation was 
inadequate to tlie purposes of a medium of trade. For 
several years before the termination of the Royal govern- 
ment, from three thousand to five thousand negroes had 
been annually imported. Payment for these absorbed the 
greater part of the gold and silver procured at foreign 
markets for the commodities of the country. The emis- 
sion of 2)f^per currency had been, by Royal instructions, 
for a considerable time AvhoUy prohibited. In the absence 
of a proper circulating medium, payments were often made 
by transfer and assignment of private notes and obliga- 
tions. Bills to a considerable amount, issued on the 
credit of four gentlemen of large estates, had a currency 
equal to coin. Certificates of the clerk of the Commons, 
House of Assembly, countersigned by certain of its mem- 
bers, passed currently for money, though issued by the sole 
authority of but one branch of the legislature. The 
ability of the province to pay its debts, and the strict 
observance of good faith in performing all its engage- 
ments, had established the soundest credit. As hard 
money was either hoarded up by men of forecast or 
shipped to purchase foreign commodities, and the conti- 
nental currency was mostly confined to the Northern 
States till near the beginning of the year 1778, the State 
emission did not for a considerable time exceed the quan- 
tity necessary for circulation. The sums issued by the 
State from June 14, 1775, to February, 1770, amounted to 
£7,817,553-6-10, whicli were received at the old provincial 
currency rate of seven for one of sterling. Besides these 
provincial bills those of the Continental Congress were 
made legal tender in payment of debts in South Carolina. 
The emission from this source in the first five years of the 
war amounted to $200,000,000. 



IN THE KK VOLUTION 225 

Tlie paper currency, as we have seen, retained its value 
nndiniiiiished in Soutli Carolina for eighteen niontlis, viz. 
t'rdiu .lime, 177"), to January, 1777. Then began a most 
ruinous depreciation. At first its progress was scarcely 
j)erce{)til)le, and was very slow througliout the year 1777. 
'i'he enormous expenses of the armies in the Northern 
States required immense supplies of money, and from the 
beginning of the year 1778 great quantities of continental 
currency began to flow into the State, and then the depre- 
ciation became much more rapid. The causes of depre- 
ciation operating most forcibly in the Northern States 
produced an earlier and greater fall in value there than in 
South Carolina; but as money, like water, finds its level, an 
advent urous trader at the North, learning that continental 
currency ^^■as worth more at the South, repaired here with 
large sums of it, and contributed more to its depreciation 
in South Carolina than all the emissions of the State. The 
/{((nd'^Iph's prizes wliich arrived early in 1778 were sup- 
posed to have brought into South Carolina half a million 
dollars. From this time, says Ramsay, an artificial depre- 
ciation was sui)eradded to the natural. Holders of paper 
monej', finding that it lost part of its value, were con- 
stantly in quest of bargains. Foreseeing that Congress 
would make further emissions for the supplies of the army, 
they considered it better to purchase any kind of prop- 
erty than to lay up their money. The progressive super- 
abundance of cash produced a daily rise in the price of 
commodities. Large nominal sums tempted many pos- 
sessors of real estate to sell. The diminished value of the 
money was mistaken for an increased price of commodities. 
Then, again, the plundering and devastation of the enemy 
wherever tliey obtained a foothold made some think that 
their property would be safer when turned into money 
than when subject to the casualties of war. The disposi- 

VOL. III. — Q 



226 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tion to sell was in a great degree proportioned to confi- 
dence in the justice and final success of the Revolution, 
superadded to expectations of a speedy termination of the 
war. The most sanguine Whigs were, therefore, oftenest 
duped l)y the fallacious sound of high prices. These prhi- 
ciples operated so extensively that property in a consid- 
erable degree changed its owners. Many opulent persons 
of ancient families were ruined by selling paternal estates 
for a depreciating currenc}^ whicli in a few weeks would 
not replace half of the real property in exchange for which 
it was obtained. Many bold adventurers, says the same 
author, made fortunes by running into debt beyond their 
abilities. Prudence ceased to be a virtue, and rashness 
usurped its place. The warm friends of America who 
never despaired of their country, and who cheerfully 
risked their fortunes in its support, lost their property ; 
while the timid who looked forward to the reestablish- 
ment of British government not only saved their former 
possessions, but often increased them. In the American 
Revolution, for the first time, the friends of the successful 
party were the losei's. 

The surrender of Charlestown on May 12, 1780, wholly 
arrested the circulation of the paper currency, and put a 
great part of the State in possession of the British, when 
many contracts for these nominal sums were unperformed 
and after many individuals had received payment of old 
debts in depreciated paper. The honorable James Simp- 
son, Intendent General of the Britisli Police, commissioned 
thirteen gentlemen to inquire into the different stages of 
depreciation, so as to ascertain a fixed rule for payment in 
hard money of outstanding contracts, and to compel those 
who had settled with their creditors to make up by a 
second payment the difference between tlie real and 
nominal value of the currency. The commissioners pro- 



IX THE K EVOLUTION 



227 



ceeded on principles of equity, and compared prices of 
country produce when the paper currency Avas in circula- 
tion with its prices in the year before the war, and also 
with till' rate of exclian_o;e between hard money and the 
paper bills of credit. From an average of the two they, 
fixed on a table in accordance with which all contracts 
were scaled.^ This scheme of adjusting transactions en- 

1 A TABLE 

Ascerlahiiiig the progressive depreciation af the paper cttrrenoj hy taking 
an average of the prices of gold and silver and the country produce at 
different periods. 



Date of each 
pcriiid. 


Depreciation by 
value of specie. 


I)ei»reciation by 

value of country 

produce. 


Average of depre- 
ciation. 


1777 April 1 
July 1 
Oct. 1 


113 per cent. 
127 " 
17G " 


157 per cent. 

108 

214 " 


135 per cent. 
163 " 
105 " 


1778 Jan. 1 


287 


287 


287 


March 1 


337 " 


470 


404 " 


May 1 
July 1 
Sept. 1 
Nov. 1 


440 " 
483 " 
500 '^ 
503 " 


622 

500 " 
577 " 
533 


531 

526 " 
538 " 
548 " 


1770 Jan. 1 
Feb. 1 


1000 " 
1250 " 


50G " 
GOl 


708 " 
955 " 


March 1 


1350 " 


807 


1123 " 


April 1 
May 1 


1400 
1450 " 


1101 
1110 


1205 " 
1283 " 


June 1 


1350 


1303 


1326 " 


July 1 


1720 


1355 


1537 


Aug. 1 


2085 " 


1551 


1818 " 


Sept. 1 
( )ct. 1 


2340 
2100 " 


1001- " 
1885 


2015 " 
1002 '* 


Nov. 1 


2011 


1083 


2447 " 


Dec. 1 


3485 " 


2174 


2830 " 


1780 Jan. 1 


3833 " 


2023 " 


3378 " 


Feb. 1 


4457 " 


4201 


4.374 " 


Marcli 1 


5240 " 


4525 


4882 


April 1 


()583 


50()5 " 


5824 " 


May 1 


llOtiO 


5170 


8085 


June 1 


11000 


5220 " 


8114 



• Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 95, 90, 



228 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tered into during the existence of a fluctuating war 
currency was followed after the war between the States 
in South Carolina by " an act to determine the value of 
contracts made in Confederate States notes or their 
equivalent " by which United States currency was made 
the basis of scaling instead of sterling and the former 
price of commodities. ^ 

1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. XIV, 277. 



CHAPTER XI 

1778 

Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis after tlieir re- 
pulse from Cliarlestown liad sailed for New York, where 
they had arrived in time to take part in the battle of 
Long- Island in which they had somewhat revived the 
laurels they had allowed to droop in Charlestown harbor. 
Then had followed a year of disaster to the American 
cause at the North. The battle of Long Island had been 
lost. Washington had abandoned New York, and the 
British had occupied and held it. The battle of \Vhite 
Plains had been fought and likewise lost. Washington 
had retreated through the Jerseys, and the people had re- 
fused to join hiiu. The Governor, Council, Assembly, and 
magistracy had deserted the province. The militia of 
Pennsylvania had refused to turn out. The braggart Lee, 
with his stolen honor from Moultrie, had been captured. 
The battle of Brandywine had been lost. The Continen- 
tal Congress had fled from Philadelphia, and that city, like 
New York, had been abandoned to the enemy and willingly 
received them. Then had followed the battle of German- 
town with no better success. The only breaks in the 
long list of disasters had been the attacks upon Trenton 
and Princeton ; but the first of these, though biilliant 
and successful, had been but an affair of an outpost, and 
the second merely a successful move by which a defeat 
had been averted. Neither had affected the issue of the 
campaign. The success of the British forces in the North- 
ern provinces had been uniform. The American troops 

220 



230 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

were dispirited, and the liritish corresponding!}^ elated. 
But in October, 1777, the tide had turned, and Burgoyne's 
army was captured. The surrender at Saratoga forms 
a memorable era in the history of the Revolution. So 
extraordinary an event as the capture of a whole army 
of their enemies revived the American cause, lessened in 
the mind of the American soldier the high opinion which 
he had entertained of British valor and discipline, and 
inspired him Avith a juster confidence in himself. But the 
consequences which the event produced in Europe were of 
still greater moment. For the present, however, these 
were unknown in the colonies. The Revolutionary party 
had as yet nothing upon which to count but a stronger 
reliance on their own resources and the encouragement of 
a brilliant success. 

The legislature which had adjourned in midsummer, 
1777, met on the 9th of January, 1778, when John Rutledge 
the President made to it the customary speech upon open- 
ing its session.! First, he laid before them the Articles of 
Confederation, which had been under discussion in the 
Continental Cougress since July, 1776, and had only been 
finally adopted for recommendation to the States in Novem- 
ber, 1777. These articles, he said, were offered to the 
respective States for their consideration with a recom- 
mendation that all be reviewed with candor, examined 
with liberality, and adjusted with temper and magnanimity. 
In allusion to the well-known fact that the Continental 
Congress was almost abandoned by its members, especially 
since it had been driven from Philadelphia and was sitting 
at York in Pennsylvania, he urged that the State should be 
represented in that body by several delegates at all times, 
more especially when a confederacy was to be concluded. 

^ So. Cn. and Am. Gen. Gazette, January 29, 1778. There are no jour- 
nals of this Assembly to be found. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 231 

The State, he said, had heeii called upon for 8500,000. 
" You will devise the best way of raising that sum, and 
although it certainly exceeds our proportion of the money 
desired from the Continent by them, yet 1 doubt not that 
you will readily comi)ly with their requisition, as the rav- 
ages of w ar have rendered some of our sister States less 
able than this to furnish their just quota." 
Tlie President then proceeded : — 

''You will also propose the most effectual and least burthensome 
mode of supporting the public credit and making such provisions as 
may be adequate to the exigencies of the government. The expenses 
which have been and must unavoidabl}' be incurred are undoubtedly 
great, but altogether inconsiderate when compared with the ines- 
timable object for which we contend, as I am confident they will 
appear to you and to your constituents, for the same spirit which 
animated the good people of South Carolina to resolve on the most 
vigorous opposition to tyranny will induce them to grant with the 
greatest alacrity every necessary aid for the support of that opposition 
(until by the blessing of God on American fortitude and perseverance), 
the vain expectations of our haughty enemies shall be frustrated and 
their pride humbled, that the ruinous consequences of the folly and 
wickedness shall oblige them to relinquish all hope of revenue and 
conquest, and agree to the separation occasioned by their unbounded 
avarice and arrogance., and to a peace which will secure the sover- 
eignty and independence of America." 

In less than two months from the time of this speech 
we shall tind John Rutledge, who was now exhorting the 
Assembly to provide the means of carrying on the struggle 
until (ireat IJiitain agreed to a separation and to the 
sovereignty and indci)en(lence of America, resigning the 
olhce of President rather than approve a permanent con- 
stitution, the adoption of which would i)reclude a recon- 
ciliation with the mother country I lUit we anticipate. 

Tht' PiTsidi'iit then went on to say that the act for 
prohibiting vendues had not had the intended effect, 



232 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

but that the evil daily increased. It appeared necessary, 
therefore, to make trial of some other remedy ; and as a 
plentiful supply of goods was the surest way of reducing 
prices, lie submitted whether it might not be expedient 
to establish a board of commerce for importing such 
merchandise as might be wanted for the Indian trade 
and other public services, and for accommodating the 
inhabitants of the State who were in low or middling 
circumstances with the articles most requisite for their 
own consumption at reasonable rates. But why did he 
not rather recommend the removal of all restrictions from 
importation and trade, and allow the merchants to bring 
in what goods they could, regardless from whence they 
came ? No ! the idea of non-importation from England 
as a means of warfare had taken deep root in the public 
mind. And now that necessity was pressing, the Presi- 
dent suggested a board of commerce to be intrusted 
with the trade. The President went on to suggest that 
as it was evident that during the continuance of the pres- 
ent troubles extraordinary power must be exercised by 
the executive authority in every State, that it would be 
more constitutional that the legislature should deter- 
mine what was fit to be intrusted to the executive, as it 
was safer for the people that their representatives should 
vest such by a temporary law than the executive should 
exercise any under the sanction of necessity only. 

A week after the legislature met, and while they were 
considering the Governor's speech, a great calamity befell 
Charlestown. On the 13th of January a fire occurred in 
which two hundred and fifty houses were burnt. The 
loss by the most moderate computation was said to exceed 
!|8,006,000 ; by some it was estimated at £1,000,000 ster- 
ling. The valuable collection of books of the Charlestown 
Library, between six and seven thousand volumes, with its 



i 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 233 

instruments and apparatus for astronomical and pliilosoplii- 
cal observations and experiments, were almost entirel}^ 
lost. ^ There were strong suspicions that the fire was 
the work of Britisli incendiaries, and these led to an 
expedition which added to the disaster. 

The British men-of-war Carrisford, Perseus, and Hinch- 
enhrook were lying off the harbor, and their men were 
frequently in the town getting provisions and intelli- 
gence from the Tories, who enabled them to avoid the 
guards. Moultrie in his Memoirs says that the men-of- 
war's boats were in town every night, and that there was 
every reason to believe that the fire had been started by 
them. Whether this was really true or not, the belief 
probably determined a project to rid the harbor of the 
men-of-war, which had been for some time under con- 
sideration. 

A month before, the 12th of December, President Rut- 
ledge had written to General Howe, then in command of 
the troops in South Carolina and Georgia, urging the 
necessity of clearing the coast of these vessels, and stating 
that Captain Biddle had agreed to go on a cruise for the 
purpose with the fleet which had been raised by the State. 
This fleet consisted of the Randolph, thirty-six guns, Cap- 
tain Biddle ; PoUy, sixteen guns. Captain Anthony ; Gen- 
eral Moultrie, eighteen guns. Captain Sullivan ; Fair 
American, fourteen guns, Captain iSIorgan ; Notre Dame, 
sixteen guns. Captain Hall. But it was expedient, the 
President wrote, that a number of marines should be 
embarked in these vessels, and that the Council had 
advised that General Howe should order as many of the 
continental troops under his command as Captain Biddle 

* So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette. January 20, 1778; Moultrie's Me- 
moirs, 200. The library at Harvard had been burned in 1764. It then 
contained five thousand volumes. 



234 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

might think necessary to be detached on the service. Upon 
this General Howe called a council of war to consider tlie 
proposal. The Council, consisting of (ieneral \N illiaui 
Moultrie, Colonel Isaac linger, C-olonel Motte, Colonel 
Roberts, Colonel C. C. Pinckney, Colonel Sumter, Lieuten- 
ant Colonel Marion, and Major Peter Iloriy, declared that 
there would be no impropriety in sending the detacliment 
required, provided the remaining troops were sufficient 
for the defence of the State ; but upon this point they 
were of opinion that there were not men enough for this 
purpose. General Howe did not approve of the report, 
and reconvened the Council to reconsider these reports, as 
he was of opinion the military would be highly censurable 
for not complying with the requisition of the Governor 
and Council. Put the council of war declared they 
could not alter their former opinion, that tliey would be 
unworthy of the commissions they held if they could be 
induced, by the dread of censure or any other motive, to 
give an opinion contrary to their honor and conscience. 
President Rutledge, however, represented to General 
Moultrie that there were a number of vessels expected in 
every day with military stores and other articles much 
needed and that unless these men-of-war could be driven 
from the coast, they would be lost. Upon this General 
Moultrie s>fave in to the extent of recommending to Gen- 
eral Howe to allow a detachment of one hundred and fifty 
men. The troops were put aboard a few days after the 
fire, to wit, on the 27tli of Januarj', and the fleet sailed 
some days afterward. The Carrlsford, Perseus^ and ffinch- 
enhroo/c at once quitted the coast. The fleet were gone 
almost ten weeks when they fell in with the Yarmouth, 
a liritish sixty-four-gun ship Avhich the Randolph immedi- 
ately engaged, but in a short time after the action com- 
menced the Jlattdolph blew up and all on board perished 



IN THE REVOLUTION 23o 

except two or three wlio were picked up from the wreck 
hy the Vtirniouf/i's crew. C'liptain loor ami liis whole 
company of tlie First Regiment — fifty men who had 
heen put on board the Randolph as marines — were lost, 
and so also was C^aptain liiddle himself, who was esteemed 
one of the very best naval officers in the countjry. The 
remaindci- of llie fleet made the best of their way home, 
an<l thus ended an exj)edition undertaken against the judg- 
ment of the military officers upon the urgency of the Presi- 
dent and Council. 

In the meanwhile the legislat\ire had been busily at 
Avork. Tiie (piestion of the disestablishment of the church 
wliile pressed had become merged in one of still greater 
importance. This was no less than the forming of an 
entirely new constitution. The Provincial Congress in 
March, 177G, had, as we have seen, assumed to form a con- 
stitution against the protest of many who maintained that 
such a fundamental instrument should only be framed by 
n full and free representation of the people called for the 
purpose. Under this Constitution which was to be in force 
<»nly until an accommodation of the unhapjiy differences 
between (ircat Hritain and America could be obtained, the 
l)ri'sent (icneral Asscmbh^ had been elected and derived 
their authority from its provisions, and from its provisions 
onl}-. Tliere was no power or authority given by that 
Constitution to the General Assembly to amend or alter it. 
Whether the body enacting it had or had not been a prop- 
erly representative one for such a purpose, the instrument 
as it stood was the chart and limit of the authority of 
those assembled under it. \\y it legislative authority was 
vested in the President, the (ieneral Assembly, and Legis- 
lative Council, with a ]iower of veto in the President. 
r>ut the body sitting under the so-called Constitution had 
alreadv assumed the i-ii>ht of amendinir it. AVith the 



236 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

assent of Jolin Rutledge, President, this General Assembly 
had passed the ordinance whereby the oath prescribed by 
tlie Constitution of 1776 to support and defend that Con- 
stitution until an accommodation of the diif erences between 
Great Britain and America should take place, had been 
changed k) one acknowledging the independence of the 
State, abjuring allegiance to the King, and swearing 
faith and allegiance to the State. ^ If, then, this Assembly 
could alter the Constitution in one particular, wh}^ not in 
another ? and why not altogetlier ? Granting the right 
in the first instance, it was now too late to resist it because 
of the particulars in which it was now to be exercised. 

These particulars, however, were most distasteful to 
many of those who had hitherto controlled, if not led, the 
revolutionary movement. Two of them were most ob- 
jectionable to a large party, to wit : (1) the disestablish- 
ment of the church, and (2) the establishment of a second 
chamber — a Senate in the place of the Legislative Council, 
to be elected by the people directly. These changes were 
far too democratic for the churchmen who had hitherto 
been in the control. The discussion lasted through the 
winter, and, strange to say, moved by some now unknown 
influence, Rawlins Lowndes, the extreme conservative, 
was now in full accord with Christopher Gadsden and 
William Henry Drayton in pressing this measure on the 
Assembly. The bill enacting the new Constitution was 
finally passed and sent to the President for his approval, 
but on the 5th of March President Rutledge vetoed it 
under the power given him by the Constitution of 1776.^ 
His reasons for so doing he gave in a very able speech 
to the Legislative Council and General Assembly. He 
declared that he had taken an oatli to preside over the 

1 Stntntea of So. Ca., vol. I, I."!"). 

2 /S'w. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, March 12, 1778. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 237 

peoi)le of the State according to the Constitution or form 
of government agreed to and resolved npon by the repre- 
sentatives of South Carolina in March, 177(), and it was 
therefore impossible for him without breach of this solemn 
obligation to give his sanction to the establishment of a 
different form of government. But he proceeded : If I 
were not restrained by an oath, I should nevertheless f)ut 
a negative on the bill because it annihilates one branch of 
the legislature, and transfers the right of electing another 
branch from the General Assembly to the people, and 
nothing is clearer to me than that Ave have no lawful 
power to do so. For on the late dissolution of govern- 
ment the people, being at libertj'" to choose what form they 
pleased, agreed to one vesting an authority for making 
the laws by which they were bound in three branches, not 
to be violated or infringed, but to be preserved as a sacred 
deposit as that security of their lives, liberties, and prop- 
erties which, after mature deliberation, they deemed it 
wisest to provide. The legislative authority being fixed 
and limited, cannot change or destroy itself without sub- 
verting the Constitution from which it is derived. The 
people by that Constitution, he said, delegated to us a 
power of making laws, not of creating legislation ; and 
there can be no doubt that if we have the authority to 
take the right of electing a legislative council from that 
body in whith the Constitution placed it and give it to 
another, we may not only do the like with the right of 
electing members of assembly and a president, but vest 
the election o( both the Assembly and Council in another 
body instead of the people, and the election of a president 
in some other body than the council and assembly ; if we 
have the power to lop off one branch of the legislature, 
we may cut off either of the other branches and suffer the 
legislative authority to be exercised by the remaining 



238 ITI8TOHV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

branch only, or abolish the third also, and invest the 
whole authorit}^ in some other person or body. Then 
after arguing- from experience that it was not chimerical 
that such iufraclious might be attempted, lie comes to 
another more serious objection : — 

" Supposing, however," he continues, " that we liad power to form 
a new constitution, I apprehend that the causes assigned for it are 
altogetlier insufficient. The bill recites that the present constitution 
was temporary only, and suited to the situation of public affairs when 
it was resolved on looking forward to an accommodation with Great 
Britain, an event then desired. But that the united colonies have 
since been constituted independent States by the declaration of the 
honorable Continental Congress, and it is therefore become abso- 
lutely necessary to frame a constitution suited to that great event. 
Admitting our form of government to be temporary, it is to con- 
tinue until that accommodation shall take place, until peace between 
Great Britain and America shall be concluded, though I do not liold 
that it must then be altered, and I think should not unless a better 
can be devised. We still look foriranl lo such an accommodation, an 
event as desirable noio as it ever was, so that the situation of puhlic affairs 
is in this respect the same as when the constitution teas established ; and 
thoiKjh indeed since the Declaration of Indejjendetice the style of this coun- 
try is somewhat altered, having been heretofore one of the united colonies, 
and being now one of the [jnllcl Stales of America, yrt it exercised, and 
constitutionally, the same supreme power before as it has since that period. 
Such declaration therefore cannot make it necessary to change the form of 
government nor can I conceive any reason tchich does. The good of the 
peoi?le," continued President Kutledge, " being the end of govern- 
ment, that is the best form under whicli they are happiest, they being 
the fittest judges of what woidd be most productive of tlieir happi- 
ness, preferred the present mode of electing a legislative council to 
that which is offered for electing a senate, probably because it aj)- 
peared more likely that persons of the greatest integrity, learning, 
and abilities would be chosen by and from amongst their representa- 
tives when assembled, than by electors in tlieir sevei'al j^arishes and 
districts, and it may have seemed incongruous that there should be 
two representative bodies, the less controlling the greater. The 
people also preferred a compounded or mixed government to a 
simple democracy, or one verging toward it, pcrhii^is because 



IN THK KKVOLUTION 239 

however unexceptionable deniocratic power may appear at first 
view, its effects liave been found arbitrary, severe, and destructive. Cer- 
tain it is that systems whicii in theory have been much admired on 
trial have not succeeded, and that projects and experiments relative to 
government are of all schen)es the most dangerous and fatal. Tiie peo- 
l>!e having adopted such a constitution as seemed to them the most 
perfect, whe'.i it is not even surmised that any grievance or incon- 
venience has arisen from it, and where they are satisfied with and 
happy under it (which I firmly believe they are), if we had author- 
iry I should conceive it neither politic, expedient, nor justifiable to 
change this form for another, especially as I think the one proposed 
will not be better than or so good as Avhat we now enjoy; and 
Mhether it would or not is a speculative point which time only can 
determine." 

President Rutledge closed the speech with saying he 
Wiis not vain enough to imagine that what he liad said 
eouhl influence the minds of the Assembly in a matter 
wliich liad been so lately the subject of debate, and hav- 
ing delivered his sentiments with candor he thought it 
l)roper to resign the oflice of President. ^ 

The resignation of President Rutledge was unexpected, 
and threw the Assembly into great confusion. That body, 
however, inunediately referred tlie speech to a committee 
of which Rawlins Lowndes was chairman, a majority of 
which resolved to report resolutions drawn by Rawlins 
Lowndes, declaring it to be the opinion of the committee 
that nothing contained in the temporary constitution passed 
on the "Jilih of March, 17TG, should be construed to constrain 
or prohil)it the legislature from making au}^ amendments 
or .alterations to it. But on the contrary from the very 
nature of that constitution being "a temporary" regtda- 
tion of the internal policy of the State it became abso- 
lutely necessary to revive and improve it. That the oath 
of oflice taken l)y tlie President could oblige him no longer 
^ Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. I, 132, 138. 



240 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAllOLINA 

to maintain the Constitution to which it referred than 
until the legislature thought proper to alter it, other- 
wise what the legislature intended as a temporary regula- 
tion might be rendered perpetual and an unalterable law. 
The bill for establishing the Constitution of the State pre- 
sented to the President the day before, and rejected by 
him, was calculated to render the Constitution of the 
country more perfect and unexceptional, and to give 
stability and permanence thereto ; that the fact of the 
President refusing his assent to a bill of such magnitude 
which had for many months almost wholly engrossed the 
attention of both Houses and the public, afforded incon- 
testable proof of the wisdom, necessity, and propriety of 
taking away in the future this veto power. The com- 
mittee finally declared it their opinion that in consequence 
of the President having resigned, that the House together 
with the Legislative Council should proceed to the elec- 
tion of another officer to fill the vacancy " agreeable to the 
spirit of the Constitution of March 6, 1778." But now arose 
the question how could that be done if the Constitution of 
March 6, 1778, had not yet been adopted ? The committee 
of the House by a majority vote adopted these resolutions ; 
but it was deemed necessary to obtain a conference with 
the Legislative Council on the subject, and as the time was 
pressing to end the anarchy between the two constitutions. 
The conference only came to three general resolutions, viz.: 
(1) That the President had a right to resign ; (2) that 
his resignation should be accepted ; (3) that a new 
President should be elected the next day. These were 
adopted by both Houses. ^ An election was thereupon 
had, and Arthur Middleton was chosen ; but he, too, 
was unwilling to approve the new Constitution, and 
declined. A second election was then had, and Rawlins 
1 MS. volume of Christopher Gadsdon. (.Mititled So. Ca. Miscellan. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 241 

I.owndes av;is elected and accepted, and on the 19th 
approved it.^ 

On the 11th of March a motion was made in the General 
Assembly that the thanks of the House be presented to John 
Rutledge, Esq., late President of the State, for his vigilant 
and faithful discharge of the duties of that important sta- 
tion, and that the Speaker be desired to signify the same by 
letter. But this compliment was not allowed to pass unchal- 
lenged. It was opposed, and some time was spent in debate 
upon it, when the previous question was moved ; and upon 
this, viz. : " Whether the question should now be put ? " the 
House divided tellers ; for the yeas. Captain l^adson, for 
the nays Captain Sanders. The yeas went forth 57, the 
nays 26. The main question, viz. : " That the thanks of 
this House be given to John Rutledge, Esq., late President 
of the State," then being put, the House again divided ; 
tlie tellers on this question were for the yeas Colonel C. C. 
Pinckney, for the nays Hon. Mr. Edwards. The yeas went 
forth 68, the nays 15. A motion was then made that the 
vote of thanks to the President be amended by inserting 
at the end the following words : " from the commencement 
of his administration to the time of his resignation." The 
resolution was thus made to read : — 

"Resolved unaiiiinously tliat the tlianks of the House be given to 
John Uutledge, Ksq., late President of the State, for the vigilant and 
faithful discharge of the duties of that important station from the 
conimencenient of his administration to the time of his resigning the 
same ; and that the Speaker do signify the same to him by letter." 

General Gadsden adds a note in his manuscript account of 
these proceedings : — 

" X.R. Colonel I'inckney, Sen'r, moved this last amendment, seconded 
by C. G., intending thereby to except from the thanks the late Presi- 

' So. Ca. 071(1 Am. Gen. Gazette, March 12, 1778; Ramsay's lievo- 
lution, vol. I, 138. 

VOL. III. — R 



242 HISTORY OF SOUTFI OAHOLIXA 

dent's last act, that of an apjirobation to the speech rejecting the 
constitution." 

It is proverbial that politics makes strange companions. 
Here was presented a striking instance, in which Rawlins 
Lowndes and Charles Pinckney, two leading conserva- 
tives, were acting with Christopher Gadsden, the extre- 
mist, to overthrow the inflnence of the llutledges. But 
the year before Richard Hutson had written to Isaac 
Hayne that Messrs. Lowndes and Pinckney liad thrown 
off the mask, and argued strongly for having the church 
continued upon its former footing : now tliey were sup- 
porting Gadsden in the adoption of a constitution which 
would disestablish it. John Rutledge could afford gener- 
ously to overlook this curtailment of the words of the 
compliment when he saw the report of the tellers on the 
main question. President or not, he was still the leader 
of the people of South Carolina. 

Rut John Rutledge's position, however strong in itself, 
was certainl}' inconsistent with that of his speech upon 
the opening of the session. He had then urged the 
Assembly to continue their opposition to the Crown until 
it relinquished all hopes of revenue and conquest and 
agreed to a peace which would secure the sovereignty and 
independence of America. Now he was telling the Assem- 
bly that he still looked forward to an accommodation with 
Great Britain as desirable as it ever was. It is almost 
amusing to observe the gravity with which he speaks of 
the Constitution of 1776 as emanating from the people 
when we recollect how it was adopted against Rawlins 
Lowndes's protest by a body whicli was in no sense a free 
and full representation of the people, but was little nu)re 
than a self-constituted one. Tlicn, too, as we have before 
pointed out, John Rutledge lia<l by assenting to the ordi- 
nance for establishing an oath of abjuration and alle- 



IN THIO REVOLUTION 243 

friiinco, ivdmitted the right of the Assembly to amend the 
Constitution. The truth, however, no doubt was, that at 
heart Rutledge did not wish to see tlie door closed to a 
reconciliation with the mother country, and that these 
innovations, the discstablisliing the church and setting up 
a pure democracy, still more alarmed him as to the ulti- 
mate results of a final separation from Great Britain. 
His position was, no doubt, that of a large part of the 
planters and merchants of Carolina. They had gone into 
resistance against the principle of taxation without repre- 
sentation, but without any idea of separation from Eng- 
land, and many, very many of them, would have ridden 
with him to Philadelphia, as he had offered to do when 
Gadsden two years ago first announced the idea, to pro- 
test against it ; and now that they found the movement 
culminating in setting aside the cliurch from tlie govern- 
ment, and setting up a democracy pure and simple, their 
hearts turned again with longing to the motlier country, 
and, to them, her good old ways. As has been observed 
by a writer upon this subject, all, both Whigs and Tories, 
were born and had grown up under a monarchy, and the 
abstract question of renouncing or continuing it was one 
u{)on which men of undoubted patriotism differed widely. 
Very many of the Whigs came into the final measure of 
separation with great reluctance and doubt, and hesita- 
tion })revailed even in the Continental Congress.^ This 
was especially true of South Carolina. 

But if the conduct of John Kutledge was inconsistent, 
that of Rawlins Lowndes was still more so. He had been 
the most conservative of all the leaders of the Revolution. 
His prudence had provoked tlie impatience and satire of 
Arthur Middleton and William Henry Drayton, who, in 
177"), had (lul)l)ed him the great " Procrastinator." He 
1 Tlie. Am. Luijalists (Sabine), G7. 



244 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

had vigorously protested against the Constitution of 1776, 
and had been shocked at Christopher (iadsden's readiness 
to agree to a separation from Enghmd ; but a year before 
he had with Charles Pinckney opposed the disestablish- 
ment of the church, the first step toward the new Con- 
stitution. And yet now we find him with Christopher 
(jadsden advocating its adoption, drawing the resolution 
to override Rutledge's veto of it, and accepting the Presi- 
dency resigned by Rutledge and declined by Middleton, 
because it closed the door to a reconciliation with the 
mother country. He, the conservative of conservatives, 
accepts the Presidency to set in motion the new condition 
of things : the abjuration of the King, the disestablish- 
ment of the church, and the institution of a pure democ- 
racy. Of this curious condition of things we have no 
explanation. The destruction of John Rutledge's papers, 
the burning of Crowfield, the family seat of Lowndes, 
with all of his, and the loss of records in the two in- 
vasions of South Carolina precludes the historian from 
any satisfactory solution of this, among other interesting 
questions, which must now remain forever in doubt. ^ 

Christo})her Gadsden, however, Avas not satisfied. He 
had carried the Constitution, it is true, against John Rut- 
ledge. But he felt that John Rutledge's power was still 
great, that he was still the strongest man in the State, and 
he was very indignant at being made Vice President under 
Lowndes, whom he had made President. Just before the 
adjournment of the House Colonel James Parsons had 
been elected Vice President, but he had declined on 

1 In his speech against the adoption of the Constitution of the United 
States in tlie Legislature of the State Mr. Lowndes said : " He was very 
much originally against a declaration of independency ; he also opposed 
the instalment law, but when they received the approbation of the people 
it became his duty as a goc^l citizen to promote their due observance." 
Klliol's Debates, vol. IV, 21)7. 



IN THE HK VOLUTION 245 

account of the state of his health, and thereupon Chris- 
topher (iadsdcn liad been elected. But so far from esteem- 
iiij^ this an lionor, he regarded it as a device of his enemies 
to get rid of him. He writes to Draj'ton then in the 
Continental Congress on the 1st of June : ^ — 

" I find by y' direction tliat you knew the House had dubbed me 
Vice I'rosid'. This was done the last hour of their sitting by the 
plentitude of tlie wanton power of a hare House. Parsons was excused 
on ace' of liis ill health, & I at that time full as bad, & that they 
knew, forced into his place, I saw plainly their views, but coul"* not 
avoid accept'g without throwing the state into confusion. But this 
I did not do without letting them know I plainly perceived their 
motive. To get rid of me at the next meeting, & to make me 
ineligible at the next election." 

But however much Christoj)her Gadsden may have 
chafed at this second place into which he was put, and 
correctly or otherwise attributed it to a political manoeuvre, 
he loyally supported Ilawlins LoAvndes in the difficult 
i)osition in Avhich he was placed, to inaugurate a new gov- 
ernment in the face of an opposition which was really 
in the majority. For the people wanted John Rutledge 
with whatever constitution they had. He had resigned 
the Presidency, but he had lost none of his strength. 
Whether Gadsden was right or wrong in the motives he 
attributed to his own election as Vice President, the result 
was that on the 3d of April John Rutledge was at once 
returned as a member of the Assembly from Charlestown 
in the place of Gadsden wdio, in accei)ting that office, had 
thus made room for him. John Rutledge was too wise 
to sulk from affairs because of his defeat, and we shall 
soon see him elected the first Governor under the Con- 
stitution which he now had vetoed, and which Gadsden 
and Lowndes had carried over his veto. 

1 MS. volume of Christopher Gadsden, entitled So. Ca. Miscellan. 



CHAPTER XU 



We must now recur to the effects which the surrender 
of Burgoyne had produced in Europe. The greatest ex- 
pectations had been entertained in Great Britain from his 
expedition, and the fall of Ticonderoga and his rapid and 
splendid success in its first stages had promised their 
fultilnient. A junction of his army from Canada, with 
that of Sir Henr}^ Clinton at New York, was confidently 
expected, and it was hoped that by their junction a deci- 
sive blow would be given to the rebellion b}- cutting off 
New England, its seat, as it was believed, from the other 
colonies. The disappointment of the British nation at 
large, at its failure, and the total loss of the arm}^ was 
great ; but that of tlie government was still greater, and 
in a lit of despondency the ministry determined to give 
up everything for which they had originally contended. 
On the 10th of December, a few days after the surrender 
of Burgoyne had been ainiounced, when Parliament was 
about to adjourn for Christmas, Lord North announced 
that at the close of the holidays he would bring in a proj- 
ect for conciliation, and accordingly in Eebruary he intro- 
duced two ])il]s wliich Avere passed througli both Houses 
of Parliament, and received tlie Royal assent on the 11th 
of Marcli. By the first oi tliesc the duty on tea imported 
into America, which was tlie cause of dispute, was repealed, 
and declaration was made that tlie King and Parliament 
would not in future impose any tax or duty whatsoever 
payable in his colonies, except only such as shonld be 

246 



IN THK REVOLCTIOX 247 

necessary for the rec^ulation of trade, and in such case 
that the net proceeds shouhl be applied to -the use of the 
coh)ny in which it should be collected under the authority 
of the assemblies, liy the other of these acts authority 
was given to the King to appoint commissioners with full 
power to treat, consult, and agree with any assemblies of 
men whatsoever in America, and even with individuals, con- 
cerning any grievances existing in the government of any 
of the colonies or in the laws of Great Britain extending 
to them, with a proviso, however, that sucli an agreement 
should not be binding until ratified by Parliament — a 
proviso which may have been necessary on the part of the 
ministry, but which made the offers of the commissioners 
merely tentative and experimental and not binding on 
their principal — an objection which was at once seized 
upon by those in America who were not disposed to listen 
to overtures of any kind. The commissioners were, how- 
ever, vested with absolute power in their discretion to 
proclaim a cessation of hostilities by sea and land ; for 
opening an intercourse with the mother country ; for sus- 
pending the operation of all acts of Parliament relating 
to the North American colonies passed since the 10th of 
February, 1703 ; and for granting pardons to all descrip- 
tions of persons. Well for England would it have been 
liad these acts been passed by Parliament wdien first sug- 
gested by Lord Barrington on the part of the ministry, 
rather than that of the 21st of December, 1775, declaring 
tlie colonies in rebellion and outlawing the people. It 
\\as too late now that the sword had been drawn to make 
siu'li an appeal, especially so, following a great disaster to 
tilt' King's armies. Nevertheless had these measures been 
taken before the (question had been made upon the adop- 
tion of a new constitution in South Carolina, closing the 
door to a reconciliation, it is not improbable that John 



248 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Rutledge's protest would have prevailed. As it was, they 
doubtless greatly diminished the strength of the Revolu- 
tionary party, and had a most serious effect upon the 
course of events in the State. The people of South Caro- 
lina, with the exception of a few extreme men, had 
now gained all that they demanded or desired. What 
was left unyielded was just what they did not desire — 
separation and independence. 

But France had been watching the tide of affairs alike 
in England and America ; and with love for neither, 
she was determined to weaken her ancient adversary by 
preventing a reconciliation between the mother country 
and her colonies. The intention of the Court of Ver- 
sailles doubtless was to encourage the American colonists 
in their revolt by secret assurance of assistance, while 
abstaining from an open declaration or recognition of 
them until Great Britain and her colonies had mutually 
weakened each other. The surrender of Burgoyne, and 
the anticipated action of Great Britain looking to con- 
ciliation, forced the French court to throw off the mask 
and to act at once. As early as the 24th of December, 
1777, treaties with the Americans were agreed upon ; but 
they were not formally signed till the 6th of February 
folloAving. 

In the beginning of March the Duke of Grafton in- 
formed the House of Peers that he had received well- 
attested intelligence that a treaty was concluded and 
actually signed between France and America, and de- 
manded from the ministers either an acknowledgment or 
denial of so important a matter. The ministers denied 
that they had any account of such an alliance having been 
formed or even intended ; but within a week after this 
declaration a message was sent to each House of Parlia- 
ment with the information that his Majesty had been 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 249 

iiifonneil by the French King that a treaty of amity and 
foMinierce had been signed by the Court of France and 
certain persons emidoyed by his Majesty's revolted sub- 
j(icts in North America, and that his Majesty had thought 
l)roper in consequence to send orders to his minister to 
withdraw from that court.^ It was soon after this that 
the memorable scene of Chatham's dying speech took 
j)hi('e in the House of Lords. lie had but a short time 
before, — the day after Lord North had announced his 
intention of bringing in a bill of conciliatory measures, — 
when the attitude of the French was yet unknown, made 
one of his greatest speeches on the subject. Though now 
a complete invalid, he had several times during the last 
few montlis spoken in the House of Lords Avith little less 
than Iiis old eloquence. America, he emphatically and 
repeatedly maintained, never could be subdued by force ; 
the continued attempt would only lead to utter ruin, and 
France would sooner or later inevitably throw herself 
into the contest. He strongly maintained, however, that 
England and America must remain united for the benefit 
of both, and that though ever}^ week which passed made it 
more difficult, and though the language of the ministers, 
and especially the employment of Indians, had enormously 
aggravated the situation, it was still possible by a frank 
and speedy surrender of all the constitutional questions 
in dispute, and by an immediate withdraAval of the invad- 
ing army, to conciliate the colonies. " All the Middle and 
Southern colonies," he maintained, " are still sound . . . 
still sensible of their real interests." The security and 
])ermanent prosperity of botli countries could oidy be 
attained by union, and by that alone the power of France 
could be repressed. Prompt, conciliatory action was 
however necessary, and lie accordingly strenuously op- 
1 Bisset's PiCifjn of Geunje III, vol. Ill, 32. 



250 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

posed the adjournment over the holidaj's which left the 
country without a parliament in the six critical weeks 
that followed the arrival of the news of the capitulation 
of Saratoga.^ His counsel was rejected, and Parliament 
took a recess. By the time Parliament reconvened the 
sands of his life had nearly run. But now that it was 
known that France had concluded a treaty with the colo- 
nies, and in the face of this the Marquis of Rockingham 
and his party were advocating the withdrawal of the 
armies from America and an immediate recognition of 
the independence of the colonies, he made one mighty 
effort to preserve the integrity of the empire of Great 
Britain. Richly dressed in a superb suit of black velvet, 
with a full wig, and covered up to the knees in flannel, 
supported on crutches, he was led into the House of Peers 
attended by his son-in-law Lord Mahon, and resting on 
the arm of his younger son William Pitt, who was des- 
tined in a few years to rival his father's fame. He was pale 
and emaciated, but the darting quickness, force, and ani- 
mation of his eyes and the expression of his whole counte- 
nance showed that his mind retained its perspicacity, 
brilliancy, and strength. The Lords stood up and made 
a lane for him to pass through to the bench of the Earls, 
and with the gracefulness of deportment for which he 
was so eminently distinguished, he bowed to them as he 
proceeded. Having taken his seat, he listened, we are 
told, with profound attention to the speech of the Duke 
of Richmond, the most vehement supporter of the neces- 
sity of admitting the independence of America ; then 
rising, he lamented, he said, that at so important a crisis 
his bodily infirmities had interfered so often with his 
regular attendance on his duty in Parliament. Then pro- 
ceeding : — 

^ EnrjJand in the Eighteenth Century (Lecky), vol. IV, 80. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 251 

" I have this day," said he, " made an effort bej'ond the powers 
of my constitution to come down to the house, perhaps the last time 
I shall enter its walls, to express my indignation against tlie proposition 
of yielding the sovereignty of America. My Lords, 1 rojoico that the 
grave has not closed upon me, that 1 am still alive to lift up my voice 
against the dismend)erment of this noble and ancient monarchy. 
Pressed down as I am by the load of infirmity, I am little able to 
assist my country in this most perilous conjuncture; but, my Lords, 
while 1 have sense and memory, I never will tarnish the lustre of 
this nation by an ignominious surrender of its rights and fairest 
possessions. Shall a people so lately the terror of the world now fall 
prostrate before tiie House of Bourbon? It is impossible. I am not, 
I confess, well informed of the resources of this kingdom ; but I trust 
it has still sufficient to maintain its just rights, though I know them 
not; and any state, my Lords, is better than despair. Let us at least 
make one effort; and if we must fall, let us fall like men." 

The Duke of Ricliuioiid declared his grief and horror at 
the dismemberment of the empire to be as great as tiiat of 
any man in the House or nation ; but how was it to be 
avoided ? He himself was totally ignorant of the means of 
resisting with success the combination of America with 
France and Spain. He did not know how to preserve the 
dependence of America. If any man could prevent such 
an evil. Lord Chatham was the man ; but what, he asked, 
were the means that great statesman would propose ? 
Lord Chatham, agitated by this appeal, made an eager 
effort at its conclusion to rise, but before he could utter a 
word, pressing his hand to his heart, he fell down in 
a convulsive fit. The Duke of Cumberland and Lord 
'I'emple who were nearest him caught him in their arms. 
He was carried to an adjoining apartment, where medical 
assistance soon arrived. Recovering, he was taken in a 
litter to his villa in Kent, and there he lingei-ed till the 
11th of May, when lie breathed his last in the seventieth 
year of his age.^ 

1 Bisset's litiijn of George III, vol. Ill, 40-42. 



252 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

It has been no digression from the history of South 
Carolina to recall this great and tragic scene, for it was 
as much a part of her history as that of England. 
Chatham was the leader of politics in South Carolina as 
of the great Whig party in Great Britain. It was by his 
advice to resist taxation without representation even with 
their lives and fortunes that many, if not most of those 
who had gone into the war, had followed. It was with 
his approval that they were acting, and with that ap- 
proval they were assured they were but exercising their 
rights as Englishmen. They had acquiesced, it is true, in 
the Declaration of Independence as a war measure, but that 
they would gladly give up if only an accommodation, an 
honorable accommodation, could be had with the mother 
country. And it was upon his great strength which 
they in a great measure depended to secure for them this 
settlement — an accommodation against which neither Mid- 
dleton, who had signed the Declaration of Independence, 
nor Rutledge, who had approvingly announced it to the 
General Assembly, would now close the door. All this 
the people felt as, day by day, they passed and repassed 
his statue standing at the intersection of the two great 
thoroughfares of tlie town with outstretched arms de- 
manding their rights.^ But now he was dead, and had 
died protesting against the dismemberment of the ancient 
and noble monarchy, that is, against their separation 
from the dominion of England. This protest sank deep 
into the hearts of many a Carolinian. 

But there was another point in this dying appeal of 
their great leader which touched them as deeply and as 
keenly, and this was his allusion to the House of Bourbon, 
for whose benefit they were now to abandon the mother 

1 See account of the raising of the statue. Hist, of So. Ca. tinder 
Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 077-078. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 253 

country. To the Carolinian of English descent, there 
was the inl)orn hatred and antipathy to the French. To 
the Huguenots, there was tlie same feeling of unkindness 
and resentment to France as that which the New Eng- 
hinders entertained to old England. Both had been 
driven from their native country by persecution. But to 
the Carolinian, whether of English or Huguenot descent, 
there was superadded to these naturally hostile senti- 
ments a deadly hatred and fear of the French as their own 
mortal enemy on the frontier, from the settlement of the 
colony to the peace of 1763. Fifteen years was all too 
short a time to forget the Indian atrocities which had been 
instigated by the French. It was the French and Span- 
iards who had invaded the town in 1706, and it was the 
French whose influence had brought on the Cherokee war 
in 1760 and the massacre of the Calhouns at Long Canes. 
It was against the French and Indians in the Cherokee 
war that Laurens and Moultrie and Marion, under the 
British ensign, had learned their first lessons in war, and 
now they were to march with the tricolor against the flag 
of St. George ! The leaders and statesmen might per- 
suade themselves to this upon grounds of policy, but the 
presence of French vessels in Charlestown harbor was to 
show how unpopular was the alliance. 

On the 21st of April, 1778, Congress then sitting at 
Yorktown, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia being then in the 
possession of the British, received a letter from General 
Washington enclosing a printed paper from Philadelphia 
purporting to be copies of the three conciliatory acts 
which had been passed by Parliament. These papers 
were at once referred to a committee, which reported upon 
tliem the next day, declaring that the committee could not 
ascertain whether the contents of the paper which had 
been referred to them had been framed in Philadelphia or 



254 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAIIOLIXA 

in Great Britain. But they were inclined to believe that 
the}' were genuine, for various reasons which they allege, 
and from which it appeared to the committee that the bills 
introduced in Parliament were intended to operate upon 
the hopes and fears of the good people of tlie States so as 
to create divisions among them and a defection from the 
common cause now b}^ the blessing of Divine Providence 
drawing near a favorable issue. Upon wliich the com- 
mittee reported it as their opinion that as the Americans 
united in this arduous contest upon principles of common 
interest for the defence of common rights and j)rivileges, 
which union had been cemented by common calamities 
and by mutual good offices and affection, so the great 
cause for wliich they contend and in which all mankind 
are interested must derive its success from the continu- 
ance of that union, Avherefore any man or body of men 
wlio should presume to make any separate or partial con- 
vention or agreement with the commissioners under the 
Crown of Great Britain or any of tliem ought to be 
treated as open and avowed enemies of these United 
States. And the committee further reported it as their 
opinion that the United States could not with propriety 
hold any conference with any commissioners on the part 
of Great Britain unless they should as preliminary thereto 
either withdraw their fleets and armies, or else in positive 
and express terms acknowledge the independence of the 
States. They recommended that the States should be 
called upon to use the most strenuous exertions to have 
their respective quotas of continental troo[)S in the held 
as soon as possible, and that all the militia of the States 
should be held in readiness to act as 0(;easion might 
require. This report was unanimously agreed to, and was 
published. 

The door was thus closed to the commissioners before 



IN rmc ijHvonTioN 265 

tlioy had sailed from England. The representatives in 
rongrcss from South Carolina at the time were Henry 
I.anrens, Thomas Ileyward, Jr., John Mathews, William 
lli'iiry Drayton, and Ricliard Ilutson. Henry Laurens 
was the President of Congress. Thus while John Rut- 
ledge and Arthur Middleton were refusing to adopt the 
Constitution which they thought put an end to the hope 
of reconciliation, Laurens and the other representative 
from the State in Congress were refusing to receive over- 
tures from England. 

The South Carolina Gazette of the 21st of May an- 
nounced that it had been favored with Lord North's speech, 
introducing his new conciliatory measures with the report 
of the ccmimittee of Congress on the bill which would be 
published in an extra the next day. The extra accord- 
ingly appeared containing the conciliatory acts, Lord 
North's speech and the report of the committee, with this 
ap]>vopriate quotation from Edmund Burke's oration of 
March, 1775, as head-line : — 

" Conciliation failing, force remains ; force failing, there is no further 
hope of conciliation. Power and authority may indeed he bought by lind- 
ness : hut they cannot he begged as alms by an impoverished and defeated 
violence." 

On May 26 the Gazette further announced that his 
l^xccllency the President had received an important dis- 
patch which was communicated to be published, to wit : 
that on Saturday, May '2d, Silas Deane had arrived at Con- 
gn-ss, express from the American plenipotentiaries at the 
court of France, and liad delivered his dispatches to his 
Ivvcellency the President. These (lis[)atches contained 
the treaties of alliance which had been formally signed on 
the (Uh of February, whereby it had been agreed that if 
war should break out between France and Great Britain 



250 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

during the present war between the United States and 
Enirland, that France and the United States shoukl make 
it a common cause, and aid each other mutually with tlieir 
good offices, their counsels, and their forces ; that the 
essential and direct end of the alliance was to maintain 
the liberty, sovereignty, and independence, absolute and 
unlimited, of the United States, and that each of the 
contracting parties would make all efforts in its power to 
attain this end. It was expressly stipulated that neither 
of the two parties should conclude either a truce or peace 
with Great Britain without the formal consent of the 
other first obtained ; and they mutually engaged not to 
lay down their arms until the independence of the United 
States should be formally or tacitly assured. 

The conciliatory acts having been passed by the Brit- 
ish Parliament, Lord Carlisle, William Eden, and George 
Johnstone, Esq., were appointed commissioners under 
the great seal, and with the Admiral Lord Howe and his 
brother the General, Sir William Howe, or in the absence 
of the latter Sir Henry Clinton, were intrusted with the 
execution of the powers for settling the differences be- 
tween the mother country and her colonies. Of these the 
two first were very little known in politics, but after the 
Declaration of Independence Lord Carlisle had moved 
the address in answer to the royal speech which de- 
nounced the Americans as rebels and traitors, while Eden 
had been under secretary to Lord Suffolk, the most vehe- 
ment advocate of the employment of the Indians in the 
war. Johnstone had been a former Governor of Florida, 
and was well known and highly esteemed in America, and 
had been opposed to the ministerial measures relating to 
the colonies. These commissioners sailed for America on 
the 22d of April, but Silas Deane had arrived before them 
and had obtained two days after reaching Congress, to 



IN THE REVOLUTION 257 

wit : on the 4th of May, tlie unanimous ratification of the 
treaties with France which he had brouj^ht. The French 
ambassador at London had before the British commis- 
sioners sailed notified the court of St. James of the en- 
gagements entered into between liis sovereign and the 
American coh)nies, and some days after quitted London and 
returned to France, and about the same time the British 
aml)assador quitted France ; though war was not actually 
declared, both kingdoms vigorously prepared for hostilities. 

It was under such discouraging circumstances that the 
commissioners found themselves upon their arrival in 
America, but they nevertheless entered upon the execution 
of their olTices with apparent alacrity. They dispatched 
their secretary Dr. Adam Ferguson, a distinguished 
philosopher and historian, to Yorktown, Pennsylvania, 
where the Congress was sitting, to lay before that body a 
copy of their commission with the conciliatory acts of 
Parliament upon which it was founded ; and a letter ex- 
plaining the extent of their powers and setting forth in 
detail the nature of the terms which they were authorized 
to offer, and asking Congress to appoint a place where 
the commissioners might meet them eitlier collectively or 
by deputation for the further discussion of the subject. 
Dr. Ferguson was, however, denied a passport and was 
not suffered to proceed any farther than the first outpost 
of the American army. He thereupon returned to Phila- 
delphia, and that no delay might ensue the papers, of which 
he was intended to have been the bearer, were forwarded 
to Congress by letter by the ordinary military posts, and 
reached Yorktown on the 13th of June. 

In this letter the commissioners declared that they were 
prepared to consent to a cessation of hostilities both by 
sea and land ; to restore free intercourse, to revive 
nuitual affection, and renew the common benefits of natu- 

VOL. III. S 



258 HISTORY OF SOUTH PATIOLINA 

ralization through the several parts of the empire ; to 
extend every freedom to trade that our respective inter- 
ests can require ; to agree that no military forces should 
be kept up in tlie different States of North America 
without the consent of the general Congress or ^^rovincial 
assemblies ; to concur in measui-es calculated to discharge 
the debts of America, and to raise the credit and value of 
the paper circuUition ; to perpetuate the union of (rreat 
Britain and the colonies by reciprocal deputation of agent 
or agents from the different States who should have the 
privilege of a seat and voice in Great Britain, or if sent 
from Britain to have a seat and voice in the assemblies of 
the different States, to which they may be deputed re- 
spectively iu order to attend the several interests of those 
to whom they are deputed. 

In short, the connnissioners proposed, they said, to 
establish the power of the respective legislatures in each 
particular State, to settle its revenue, its civil and mili- 
tary establishment, and to exercise a perfect freedom of 
legislation and internal government, so that the British 
States throughout North America, acting with the people 
of Great Britain in peace and war under one common 
sovereign, may have the irrevocable enjoyment of every 
privilege that is short of a total separation of interests, or 
consistent with that union of force on which the safety of 
our common religion and liberty depends. 

The commissioners proceeded to say : — 

" In our anxiety for preserving those sacred and essential interests, 
we cannot lielp taking notice of the insidious interposition of a 
power which has from the first settlement of these colonies been 
actuated with enmity to us both. And notwithstanding the pre- 
tended date or present form of the French offers to Nortii America, yet 
it is notorious that these were made in consequence of the plans of 
accommodation previously concerted in (ireat Hritain. and with a view 
to prevent our reconeiliatioii and to [irtjlong the destructive war." 



IN THE REVOLUTION 259 

The commissioners then went so far as to make this 
appeal : — 

'• But we trust that the inluibitants of North America connected 
with us by the nearest ties of consanguinity — speaking the same 
hanguage, interested in the preservation of similar institutions, re- 
membering tlie former liappy intercourse of good offices, and forget- 
ting recent animosities — will shrink from the thought of becoming 
an accession of force to our late mutual enemy and will prefer a tirm, 
free, and perpetual coalition with the parent State to an insincere 
and unnatural foreign alliance."^ 

To this letter Henry Laurens, who was now President 
of the Continental Congress, made answer on the 17th of 
June, signed by him upon the unanimous voice of that 
l)()(ly, that nothing but an earnest desire to spare the 
further effusion of human blood could have induced them 
to read a paper containing expressions so disrespectful 
to his most Christian Majesty, the good and great ally of 
these States ; or to consider propositions so derogatory to 
the honor of an independent nation. The acts of the 
British Parliament, the commission from their sovereign, 
and their letter suppose the people of these States to be 
subjects of the Crown of Great Britain, and are founded 
on the idea of dependence, which was utterly inadmissible. 

" I am further directed to inform your Excellencies," Mr. Laurens 
continued, " that Congress are inclined to peace, notwithstanding the 
unjust claims from which their war originated, and the savage manner 
in which it hatli been conducted. They will, therefore, he. ready to 
enter upon the consideration of a treaty of peace and commerce not 
inconsistent with treaties already subsisting when tlie King of Great 
Britain shall demonstrate a sincere disposition for that purpose. Tlie 
only solid proof of this disposition will be an explicit acknowledg- 
ment of the independence of these States or the withdrawing his fleet 
and armies." ■^ 

1 Ramsay's Bevolntion, vol. T, .S0.')-400. ^ jbid, 402. 



■^5w>y. 



260 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

This answer would seem to have closed the door to any 
further negotiation ; but the connnissioners, nevertheless, 
thought it necessary to reply to show that the failure of 
their mission was not in any way attri])utable to them. 
In their reply they stated that the last alternative, that of 
withdrawing the British fleets and armies, was inadmis- 
sible not only for the sake of guarding against the designs 
of the natural enemy of Great Britain, but for the safety of 
those who in America had taken an active part in favor of 
the mother country. But with respect to the first of the 
alternatives, they declared that if Congress by the inde- 
pendence of America meant no more than the entire privi- 
lege of the people of the continent to govern themselves 
without any reference to Great Britain, beyond what was 
necessary to preserve a union of force for the safety of 
the whole empire, such an independence had been already 
acknowledged in the first letter of the commissioners. 
But Congress took no further notice of this second letter 
than barely to enter a resolution upon their journal, import- 
ing that no answer should be given to it, as neither of the 
preliminary conditions — that of an explicit acknowledg- 
ment of independence and withdrawal of fleet and armies 
— had been complied with. 

Later, on the 7th of August, the commissioners sent in 
a remonstrance against what the British claimed was a 
violation on the part of the Americans of the terms of 
Burgoyne's surrender ; but Congress, instead of answer to 
this, transmitted to them a remonstrance on the conduct 
of Governor Johnstone, accompanied with a declaration 
that it was incompatible with the honor of Congress to 
hold any further communication with him. This charge 
was founded on letters written by Governor Johnstone to 
individual members of Congress, with some of whom he 
was personally acquainted, and for otliers of whom he had 



IN THE REVOLUTION 261 

received letters of introduction from their friends in 
England. There is no doubt that (jovernor Johnstone, i^ m>^ 
who had been a strenuous advocate in Parliament for the S*-^''^ 
rights originally claimed by the Americans, in his anxiety 
to induce the Americans to accept the terms which he had 
been sent to offer, which he believed abundant to secure 
their liberty, peace, and happiness more extensively than 
those originally claimed by them, and with which, indeed, 
he asserted that Dr. Franklin had, on the 28th of Marcli 
before, declared himself perfectly satisfied as beneficial to 
North America and as such should be accepted, had been 
very indiscreet in his suggestions. And although the 
charge that he had actually offered a bribe to Colonel 
Read is not borne out by the letter which he wrote, yet 
he certainly did hold out both honors and rewards to 
those who should be instrumental in restoring the union 
of England and the colonies, and putting an end to the 
horrors and devastations of the war.^ 

Two of these letters to individuals were written to 
members of Congress from South Carolina. To Henry 
Laurens upon the introduction of a friend of his in Eng- 
land he wrote : — 

" If you should follow the example of Britain in the hour of her 
insolence and send us back without a hearing, I shall hope from your 
private friendship that I may be permitted to see the country and the 
worthy characters she has exhibited to the world upon making the 
request in any way you may point out." 

Mr. Laurens in a very admirable and dignified letter 
replied that it was for Great Britain to determine whether 
her commissioners should return unheard or revive a 
friendsliip with the citizens at large or remain among 
them as long as they pleased. You are undoubtedly 
acquainted, Mr. Laurens wrote, with the only terms upon 
1 Steadman's Am. }Var, vol. II, 50-52. 



262 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

which Congress can treat for accomplishing this good 
end — terms from which, writing altogether in a private 
character, I may venture to assert with great assurance 
they will never recede. Congress, he asserted, in no hour 
had been haughty; but to suppose that their minds were 
less firm in the present than they were when destitute of 
all foreign aid, and even without expectation of an alli- 
ance, when upon a day of general public fasting and 
humiliation in the house of worship and in the pres- 
ence of God they resolved " to hold no conference or 
treaty with any commissioners on the part of Great 
Britain unless they should, as a preliminary, either with- 
draw the fleets and armies or acknowledge the indepen- 
dence of the States " would be unnatural. At a proper 
time, he declared, he should think himself highly honored 
b}^ contributing to render any part of the States agreeable 
to Governor Johnstone, but until that basis of mutual con- 
fidence was established he believed neither former private 
friendships nor any other considerations could influence 
Conofress to consent that even Governor Johnstone, a gen- 
tleman who had been so devotedly esteemed in America, 
should see the country. He had but one voice, and that 
should be against it. 

Mr. Drayton also made a long and elaborate reply to 
Governor Johnstone's letter to him. Among others he 
made this very strong point. Although the commis- 
sioners and Congress, he wrote, be agreed, such agree- 
ment is of no effect till confirmed by Parliament, which 
is giving sucli an advantage to Parliament by knowing 
what Congress would do, and is such a disadvantage to 
Congress by not knowing what Parliament would confirm, 
that any inequality of the conditions will put a stop to 
accommodation. 

" America," he wrote, " is independent de jure et dc facto. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 263 

She will maintain her status at the expense of the last drop 
ot" her blood. It is in vain to solieit what yonr arms were 
not able to compel. You are no longer in that situation. 
America is more competent to contend than ever she has 
been. Our resolution is fixed, nor do we fear 'the horrors 
and devastations of war.' France has acknowledged our 
independence ; the great powers of Europe smile upon us. 
We rely upon ourselves and the favor of heaven. If we 
continue lirm, we shall continue independent. Farewell." ^ 
To remove any obstruction to the work of the commis- 
sion by his presence, Governor Johnstone, while disclaim- 
ing any intention upon his part to bribe or compel any of 
those to whom he had written, Avithdrew absolutely from 
it, and Congress was notified that he had done so. It is 
probable, however, that the commissioners would now have 
abandoned all attempts at negotiation but that they knew 
that there was still a moderate part}' in all the colonies 
which thought the terms offered by the commissioners 
suificiently liberal to be accepted, and viewed with ex- 
treme concern and apprehension the new connection with 
France, a kingdom they had been taught to consider as 
proverbially faithless. Indeed, it was believed, and it was 
probably true, that a great section of the American people 
would gladly have closed the quarrel b}- a reconciliation 
on these terms. '-^ But Congress was in the hands of the 
party for absolute independence. There can be little 
doubt that the people of South Carolina generally would 
gladly have accepted them. As a last effort the British 
commissioners published a manifesto on the 3d of October, 
addressed not only to the Congress, but to the members 
of the general assemblies or conventions of the several 

1 So. Ca. and Am. Ooi. Gazette, July ;30, 1778. 

2 r^cky, Emjlnnd in the Eiijhtccnth Century, vol. IV, 85 ; Steadraan's 
Am. War, vol. II, ijO. 



264 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

colonies and all other free inhabitants of the said colonies 
of every rank and denomination. In the manifesto they 
said : — 

" It will now become the colonies in general to call to mind their 
own solemn appeals to Heaven in the beginning of this contest; that 
they took arms only for the redress of grievances ; and that it would 
be their wish as well as their interest to remain forever connected 
with Great Britain. We again ask them whether all their grievances, 
real or supposed, have not been amply and fully redressed ? and we 
insist that the offers we have made leave nothing to be wished in 
point either of immediate liberty or permanent security; if those 
offers are now rejected, we withdraw from the exercise of a commis- 
sion with which we have in vain been honored ; the same liberality 
will no longer be due from Great Britain, nor can it be, either in jus- 
tice or policy, expected from her." ^ 

On Tuesday afternoon, October 20, 1778, a brig with a 
flag of truce arrived off Charlestown bar, and a naval 
officer on board was intrusted with several packets from 
the British commissioners, directed to his Excellency the 
President, the commander-in-chief of the forces, the legis- 
lature, clergy, and the people of the State of South Caro- 
lina. They contained the offers made to and rejected by 
the Continental Congress, and the manifesto of October 3d. 
The vessel was retained in the Road near the harbor until 
President Lowndes convened his Council and the leading 
men of the different orders of the inhabitants to whom 
they were addressed. Upon reading the manifesto and 
accompanying papers, it Avas unanimously resolved that 
tliis approach was highly derogatory to Congress, to 
which all such communications should be addressed, as 
such conduct on the part of the commissioners was calcu- 
lated to sow dissensions and jealousy among the component 
parts of the American confederacy. The packets were 

1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. I, 428. 



IN TUK REVOLUTION 265 

then sent under cover to the British commissioners at 
New York and returned on board the brig, witli orders 
for her to de[)art immediately.^ 

Ill November the British commissioners sailed for Eng- 
land, and at tlie same time Hritish troops embarked for the 
reduction of the provinces of Georgia and South Carolina. 

1 So. Ca. and A7n. Gen. Gazette, October 22, 1778; Ramsay, *S'c». Ca., 
vol. I, 214. 



CHAPTER XIII 

1778 

Rawltns Lowndes, the newly elected President, not- 
withstanding Gadsden's support, — nay, perhaps very much 
on account of it, — found his position far from comfortable. 
The General Assembly had accepted John Kutledge's res- 
ignation, but the people were very impatient under any 
other's rule. And this they took an early occasion to show. 
It will be recollected that under his administration an act 
or ordinance had been passed on the 13th of February, 
1777, establishing an oath of abjuration and allegiance to 
be administered to all the late officers of the King of Great 
Britain, and to all other persons whom the President and 
Council might suspect of holding principles injurious to 
tlie rights of the State. But the Assembly, having adopted 
the new Constitution, now took another step to make sure 
of their power. On the 28th of INIarch, 1778, it })assed 
an act to oblige every free male iidiabitant of the State, 
above a certain age, to give assurance of fidelity and alle- 
giance to the Commonwealth. 1 By this act the colonel of 
the regiment of militia and the captain of tlie company 
of artillery in CharlestoAvn, within one month, and the 
colonels or commanding officers of militia throughout the 
State, within three months after the passage of the act, 
were requested to assemble their regiments or companies, 
and at their heads to take the oath themselves, and then 
to administer the same to the commissioned officers of the 
regiments, who, in their turn, were to administer it to the 
1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. I, 147. 
2CG 



IN THE KEVOLUTIOX 267 

non-commissioned olficers and privates — any officer or 
private refusing to take the oath was to be immediately 
disarmed. The members of the Legishitive Council and 
(General Assembly, and all persons holding any office or 
[)lace of trust or emolument, all ferrymen, pilots, and all 
other persons not subject to militia duty, were required 
within one month to take the oath before a Justice of the 
Peace ; and no one who refused or failed to take it could 
thereafter hold office, vote, sue at law or in equity, or hold 
or possess lands ; and after sixty days any person refusing 
to take the oath was incapable of exercising any profes- 
sion, trade, art, or mystery, or of buying or selling or 
acquiring or conveying any property whatever. 

So drastic a measure could not be enforced. Its very 
severity defeated its purpose — a legislative body based 
upon no popular vote or consent, a body which could 
scared}' make or keep a quorum fi)r the transaction of 
business, and which on the day it passed this measure was 
so thin a house as to cause Christopher (iadsden to resent 
as an insult his election as Vice President b}' it, was in no 
position to disfranchise the masses of the people. The act 
was passed on the 28th of ]\larch, and the time now 
approached when its penalties must be enforced, or some 
way be found to avoid its consequences. This was the 
position, so inconsistent with all his past career and sur- 
roundings, in which Mr. Lowndes as President now found 
himself. Nor was he in any condition to meet and con- 
tend with tliese difficulties. He was sick and in bereave- 
ment. He liad just lost one son and was about to lose 
anotlier. In his distress he wrote to Gadsden to come 
to his assistance, and to transact tlie immediate necessar}' 
business for him ; and however reluctant Gadsden may 
have been to accept the position as Vice President, he 
was not the man to shirk responsibility, nor to desert a 



268 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

friend in the hour of need. From a letter written by 
Gadsden to William Henry Drayton then in Congress on 
the 15tli of June, 1X78, and from another to Thomas Bee, 
Speaker of the House of Commons, on the 5th of October, 
1778, it appears that the Continental Congress itself had 
intervened in the matter and had recommended an exten- 
sion of the time within wliich the oath might be taken, 
and that Drayton liad sent the draft of a resolution for 
the purpose which Gadsden had introduced in the Legisla- 
tive Council and had endeavored to have it j)assed, but 
that its passage had been delayed through a variety of 
accidents. On the 5th of June, however, a proclamatioi\ 
had been prepared in the Council to extend the time, 
"none more pressing for it than myself," wrote Gadsden 
to Drayton. The proclamation was, however, scarcely 
in the sheriff's hands before violent opposition to it was 
disclosed. A meeting, or " a mob " as Gadsden called it, 
was assembled and a deputation was sent to tlie President, 
not only protesting against but returning to him the 
proclamation which they had taken from the sheriff. 
Gadsden was furious. He wrote to Drayton in his own 
peculiar style a very interesting account of what took 
place. 1 

" It," the proclamation, " was hardly got into the sheriif' s hands 
before some myrmidons alarmed the town, we were setting up a proc- 
lam° ag'. law going to ruin their Liberties and what not! the procla- 
mation I believe was never read, a Deputation was sent to the Presid' 
of Doc' Budd, Capt. Mouatt, Joshua Ward, and some others. His 
proclamation was returned to him in my presence w.*" of itself is 
insult enough, but besides that the spokesman jNIr. Wai'd told the 
President he thought the people were right, & he would lose the last 
Drop of Blood to support them, this I thouglit so high an insult tliat 
I immediately began with Ward, sarcastically applauded his Heroism 
& great exertion for the public good. In return he told me I was 

1 MS. volume of Christopher Gadsden, entitled So. Ca. Miscellan. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 269 

a inadinan, but first took care to sneak out of my reach, however had 
lie not I should have done nothing more as I was prepared than what 
I did, lauj^h in his face. The President did all that man could do, 
but to IK) purpose, a meeting was called in the evening. Dr. Budd put 
in the chair, every press prohibited from printing the proclamation & 
the Magistrate deterred from granting certificates to the penitent. At 
this I, Don Quixotte Secundus, who never had acted the Magistrate 
before, gave out publickly that I would give the Oath of Fidelity & 
certificates to any applicants by the 10'.'' & accordingly did to many. 
I was in the midst of the people where I found them chiefly a mere 
mob, with here & there some who ought not to have been, & I was 
sorry to see there & had reason to suspect that day much negative 
impulse. I told them I advised the measure & that they should 
put a Halter about my neck & hang me if they thought it wrong — 
that they had a constitutional remedy, they might impeach the Presi- 
dent & Council if they acted improperly, & that they had better do 
that. But all to no purpose. In my opinion if they were not set 
on, the old Leven was at least not sorry for it, as it was echoed 

amongst the people, I am told, that had Mr. R been president 

nothing of this sort would have happen'd. They met again in the 
10'.'' & after some Fuss between young Perroneau of the 2"? Reg. 
& D! Budd, the latter was again placed in the chair and after a 
variety of & motions amongst the last to impeach Pres^' & Council 
they at last came to the Resolution penn'd at the Bottom of the 
printed proclam! & then broke up. That Resolution I am told was 

l^enn'd by E R and is printed in Wells last paper without the 

Proclam' . The one sent you is printed as you will see since the lO'*" 
as a Hand Bill & I question now whether it will be printed at all in the 
Regular Gazette, but from a different motive I am fully persuaded 
than that through w".'' it was prevented at first. That was violence & 
party manoevre. Now it will be hindered underhandedly by shame 
if possible." 

We have given this full extract from General Gadsden's 
letter as not only containing an authentic account of these 
disturbances, but giving us a considerable insight into the 
condition of parties at the time. No doubt " the old 
Leven," as he styled the conservatives, looked on without 
remorse, if not with actual enjoyment, at Gadsden's dis- 



270 HISTUllY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

comfiture in liis first effort to control the element in the 
town which they regarded as having been encouraged, if 
not actually raised, by himself. They no doubt enjoyed 
too, if indeed they had not instigated, tlie cry that noth- 
ing of this kind would Iiave happened if only John Rut- 
ledge had been President. It must, indeed, have been a 
bitter experience to Christopher Gadsden to find the men 
to whom he had been the leader and guide in all the 
revolutionary movements, turning away and disregarding 
him the moment he attempted to withstand and control 
their violence. It w'as under his lead that they had often 
assembled under the Liberty Tree and marched through 
the town, hurrahing for Wilkes and the anti-Rescinders, 
or met there to enforce the non-importation agreement 
against some luckless merchant. It was to support him 
against his present colleague and cliief, Mr. Lowndes, that 
they had crowded the Exchange in July, 1774, and out- 
voted the Conservative party, who were already alarmed 
at the extremes to which he was inclined to go. It was 
upon them he relied when he stood in the Provincial Con- 
gress and alone assumed the responsibility of declaring in 
favor, not only of the liberties, but of the independence 
of the American colonies. During all this time and 
through all these events Christopher Cnidsden was, and 
knew himself to be, a chief among his people, a leader 
with a compact party behind him, a power in tiie State. 
But it is the fate of every such leader tliat lie must be 
ever in the advance. There is no room for pause or hesi- 
tation in his course. If he but stumble, the crowd behind, 
with his name upon tlieir lips, will ruthlessly trample 
upoil him, following the next who happens to keep in 
the front. It was this party which, under his lead, had 
forced tlie adoption of the new Constitution, and John 
Rutledge had wisely stepped aside and left to him, and his 



IN THE UEVOLUTION 271 

new ally, Rawlins Lowndes, the responsibility of the 
government they had set up. Gadsden's role must now 
all at once be changed. He had hitherto been a critic and 
down puller, as John Adams was in Massachusetts ; now he 
must build up and conduct the government he had inau- 
gurated. How differently things at once appeared to 
him ! 

On the 8th of June he writes to Peter Timothy, urging 
and imploring him by the past favors he had received 
from the State in the printing business to print fifty or 
a hundred copies of the proclamation in order to unde- 
ceive the misled inhabitants of Charlestown and prevent 
further mischief. He argues that there is not one tittle 
in the proclamation contrary to law, which he is persuaded 
will be seen by the candid and dispassionate men the 
moment it is published. He appeals to Timothy that its 
publication is necessary to the vindication of the Presi- 
dent and Council, and that being the case he asks, " Shall 
the press be stopt & the only public way of vindicating 
public character shut up against them ? " Can it, indeed, 
be Christopher Gadsden who wrote this ? 

" I court no popularity ; am neither afraid nor asliamed to say any 
where that I advised this measure, if wrong let the people impeach 
us, that is the constitutional method, unless restless, flighty men of w"!' 
I am afraid we have too many amongst us want again to be running 
upon every Fancy to the meetings of liberty tree. Query whether 
there is not a disease amongst us far more dangerous than any thing 
that can arise from the whole herd of contemptible, exportable Tories." 

Little could he have thought, when in 17GG he linked 
hands Avitli tiie party under the Liberty Tree, that before 
the Revolution was over he would be denouncing, as 
worse than contemptible Tories, those who still sought 
the inspiration of freedom under the shade of its branches. 
But so it was. His day of power was passing away. 



272 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The violent would not be controlled by him, and the con- 
servative would not accept him as a leader in the place of 
Rutledge. Bitterly he complains again in the letter to 
Timothy : — 

"For my part I never wish'd for nor sought my present situation, 
nor was I put into it from favor to me, but merely the plenitude of the 
wanton power of a Bare House." 

But he concludes : — 

" However as I am placed in it I will do my duty therein to the best 
of my judg' & will be intimidated neither by the many nor few. I 
have administered the oath to several this morning & will to as many as 
call on me within the time mentioned in Proclamation, this I have 
publickly declared and wish it to be as publickly known as possible." 

It happened that Timothy was just about to commence 
the republication of his paper the Gazette of the State 
of South Carolina, his press and stock having been de- 
stroyed in the great fire of the 15th of January before, 
and though, as he announces in his first issue of the 24tli 
of June, that he is reduced to " begin the world annew at 
an advanced period of life," having lost everything in that 
conflagration, he would not desert the party with whom 
he had been acting, and who had, as Gadsden reminded 
him, given him public patronage. So, unlike Wells of the 
South Carolina and American General Gazette, he did not 
quail before the mob, but in his first issue, which, however, 
was after the time limited in it, published the proclama- 
tion in full. 

The proclamation was very skilfully drawn. Seizing 
upon a resolution of the Continental Congress of the 23d 
of April before, which recommended to the legislatures of 
the several States, or to the executive authority of each 
State if invested with sufficient power to issue proclama- 
tion of pardon to such of the inhabitants as had levied war, 
or adhered to or abetted the enemy, who should surrender 



IN THE REVOLUTION 273 

themselves to any civil or military officers of the State, 
the proclamation citing the resolution went on to say : — 

" And whereas many of the useful inhabitants of the States who 
from tender consciences, misapprehensions, or prejudice of former pre- 
jiosspssion, and others from neglect, inadvertence, particular situation, 
or circumstances, have not yet taken the oath of fidelity to the State, 
prescribed by the Act of the General Assembly, passed the 28th day of 
March last, and are now heartily disposed and desirous to take the 
same, and on fuller consideration to unite with and become faithful 
citizens of the State. And whereas the benign and gracious inten- 
tion of Congress do manifestly and necessarily include and compre- 
hend the latter as well as the fornier, inasmuch as no hostile or other 
overt act of criminality is imputed to them. And the Legislature 
not now sitting, the good designs and merciful overtures of Congress 
may be rendered ineffectual if the Executives do not interpose to carry 
into execution, as far as may be, what is so well calculated to restore 
public peace and tranquillity in particular to the State." 

The President liad, therefore, thought fit, by and with 
the advice of the honorable the Privy Council, to issue 
his proclamation, publishing this act of Congress and 
promising to apply to the legislature at its next meeting, 
and endeavor to obtain a confirmation and ratification of 
a general amnesty, and pardon to all those who should 
within the time prescribed return to the State and take 
the oath of fidelity as a test and evidence of their alle- 
giance by the 10th of June. 

Wells's paper, the South Carolina and American General 
Gazette, of the 11th of June, gives this account of the meet- 
iucr of the 10th, to which General Gadsden refers in his 
letter to William Henry Drayton : — 

" Yesterday afternoon at a meeting of a great number of respect- 
able inhabitants of Charlestown, the following resolution was unani- 
mously agreed to, and ordered to be published : — 

"'That an act of assembly entitled "an act to oblige every free 
male inhabitant of the State above a certain age, to give assurance 

VOL. III. — T 



274 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of fidelity and allegiance to the same, & for other purposes therein 
mentioned," ought and shall be strictly carried into execution, an<l the 
pains and penalties imposed in the same shall be assuredly inflicted 
upon all defaulters.'" 

But, notwithstanding this resolution of so respectable a 
meeting as the Gazette describes it to have been, the act 
was not enforced, and when the legislature met in the 
fall it found itself compelled, virtually, to indorse the ac- 
tion of the President and Council by passing another act for 
enlarging the time for taking the oath. The preamble to 
this recites that it is passed because many of the citizens 
of the State had through ignorance, mistake, absence, or 
some unavoidable accident neglected to take it and liad 
thus become liable to its pains and penalties. ^ Vyy this 
act the term of submission to the new government was 
practically enlarged to the spring term of the courts, 1779, 
but when that time arrived the government was too busy 
with Prdvost's invasion to be enforcing oaths of allegiance. 

The General Assembly upon passing this test oath act 
had adjourned to the 1st of September. But very few mem- 
bers attended on that day, and it was not until the 3d that 
a quorum was formed. ^ The President, writes Gadsden to 
Drayton, then made a very spirited representation of the 
behavior of the mob in Charlestown on the 5th of June, 
which mob he says was ostensibly on account of the proc- 
lamation, but really, as he is persuaded, " artfully stirred up 
and set a-going by a cabal." But the House was very reluc- 
tant to meddle with the matter, and after having it before 
them for a month, through the influence of the town mem- 
bers, Gadsden says, put it off to the next House. There is 
nothing in the Gazette of the day on the subject, no speech 
or message of the President, nothing more than the bare 

* Statutes of S<i. Co., vol. IV, 450. 
2 So. Ca. ami Am. Cfen. Gazette, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 275 

announcement of the meeting of the Assembly. But a 
writer in the Gazette of the 24th of September, without 
direct mention or reference to these occurrences, presents 
a very phiusible argument against the action of the Presi- 
dent and Council in assuming to abrogate or avoid an act 
solemnly passed by the three coordinate branches of the 
government. He argues for an express constitutional pro- 
vision upon the subject. Ilis paper is interesting as it 
exhibits the steps in the development of our written con- 
stitutions as limitations upon the law-making power. He 
urges that the Constitution should clearly define the author- 
ity of each branch of the legislature as well as the con- 
joint powers of the whole. It is absolutely necessary to 
settle whether the power, transferred to government, is 
unlimited, or whether it would not be prudent to confirm 
it by a charter of inalienable rights. It is proper, he writes, 
that the privileges of each component jjart should be fixed, 
that no branch may be at liberty to arrogate to itself ad 
libitum a power superfluous to the rest. The writer, how- 
ever, cannot avoid all personal allusion. He cannot alto- 
gether conceal his party spirit. " Let us not follow," he 
writes, "the example of those wdio have almost ruined 
themselves already, and probably will totally hereafter by 
their neglect of this very matter." 

In the meantime, writes Gadsden to Drayton, the Presi- 
dent and Council had to put up with the insult. He was 
much afraid that ^Ir. Lowndes would have resigned, "which 
would have put the State into great confusion, and would 
have given the party who were hopeful that officers 
would not have been found to set the new constitutions 
a-going, the utmost pleasure." But while Gadsden was 
thus concerned tiiat Lowndes should submit to insult in 
order to despite the opposition to the new Constitution, 
he was not willing to do so himself. This, he tries to 



276 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

explain to Drayton, was because liis office was not of so 
much consequence and would not disorganize the govern- 
ment, and at the same time would rebuke the other party. 
He writes that as for his part as Vice President, and as a 
new election was so near at hand, he thought his resigna- 
tion would be of little moment to the State, and that at 
the same time it would be of some good consequence that 
some part of the executive should show a feeling upon so 
monstrous an insult as they received. Indeed, he thought 
himself in a manner peculiarly called upon to do so from 
his station, and wrote a letter, he says, to the speaker re- 
signing the office of Vice President, a copy of which he 
encloses to Drayton, A copy of this letter is in the man- 
uscript volume before us. It is in Christopher Gadsden's 
own peculiar style. It is long and incoherent, and often 
regardless of the rules of grammar ; but it is full of strong 
sense, of the highest honor and deepest feeling. His love 
for the State commingled with his sense of wrong at the 
indifference and disrespect with which he conceived the 
President and himself treated, are expressed with strength 
and pathos. He makes, too, a ver}^ strong point that the 
very existence of the State during the war then existing 
might, upon a sudden emergency, oblige the Privy Council 
to advise the President to act really the very opposite to 
some of the most favorite laws — a necessity which was 
soon to be recognized and acted upon in conferring almost 
dictatorial powers upon John Rutledge and his Council, in 
whose interest the controversy with Lowndes and Gadsden 
was now chiefly waged. But Gadsden must have been 
simple-minded indeed, when he expected, as he wrote 
Drayton, that his resignation would be accepted. Had he 
not himself recognized that he had been put in the position 
as a mere party manoeuvre by his opponents ; and could he 
expect them now to release him ? "However," he writes. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 277 

" I "was mistaken, for they did me the lienor, unanimously, 
to send two members to desire I wo"' continue. This I 
could not refuse, therefore still remain statu quo.'" 

It Avas, as we have seen, during the early days of 
Lowndes's administration that the alliance with France 
had been formed. This alliance was far from being uni- 
versally acceptable, and the latent hostility to it in South 
Carolina was now to be exhibited in a marked manner. 
As soon as the French had determined to take an active 
part in behalf of the revolted colonies, a fleet was equipped 
and dispntched to America under the Count D'Estaing. 
The first movement on their part in cooperation with the 
American forces was the joint expedition to recover pos- 
session of Rhode Island, which ended in total failure, 
because, as the Americans believed, of their abandonment 
in a critical moment by the French fleet. Indeed, Colonel 
John Laurens, son of Henry Laurens, who was serving 
with that ex[)edition, had taken to D'Estaing, when he 
had announced his intention of abandoning it and sailing 
for Boston, a protest against the departure of the fleet as 
derogatory to the honor of France, destructive of the wel- 
fare of the United States, and highly injurious to the alli- 
ance formed between the two nations. The conduct of 
the French on this occasion caused great murmuring 
throughout the American continent, particularly among 
the people of the Northern States, who had hoped much 
from the expedition. In these States the clamors were 
loud against D'Estaing, who had deserted them in the 
midst of an expedition which had been undertaken only 
in consequence of the promise of cooperation. These 
murmu rings were suppressed by the powers as far as they 
could, but they were in part the cause of a dangerous riot 
in Boston between the American and French seamen, in 
which several of the latter were wounded. A still more 



278 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

serious riot of the same kind took place in Charlestown. 
On the 6th of September, the good people of the town 
were alarmed by the firing of cannon and small arms. 
The disturbance began, it appears, with an ordinary quar- 
rel between some sailors of the French ship Conite de Nar- 
honne, lying at one of the wharves, and the landsmen, but 
it grew into a general fight between the French sailors 
and those of Carolina, in which some lives were lost and 
several persons wounded. There was great alarm, the 
militia were called out, and were under arms all night. 
President Lowndes issued a proclamation, offering ,£1000 
for the apprehension of a person who was supposed to 
have killed one of the French sailors. He also called 
upon all magistrates and peace officers and all good citi- 
zens to be vigilant in suppressing tumultuous meetings 
and preventing riots, and to discourage and discounte- 
nance all indecent, illiberal, and national reflections against 
the subjects of his most Chi-istian Majesty our great and 
good ally as tending to excite resentment and ill-will 
among those to whom by interest, treat}^ and alliance we 
are bound as friends and who are particularly entitled 
to our favor. He also sent in a message to the General 
Assembly, which was now sitting, recommending them 
to prescribe regulations which might prevent sucli riots, 
which threatened very fatal consequences. Nothing 
further came of these disturbances, l)ut they exhibited 
the hostile feeling which existed among the people 
against the French and this alliance.^ 

There was great apathy among the people in the coun- 
try generally, notwithstanding all the excitement and 
turmoil in tlie town of the last few months. The new 
Constitution had popularized the government in theory, 
but the people generally do not appear to have been zeal- 
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, September 17, 1778. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 279 

ous in availing tlieniselves of their new francliises. Presi- 
dent Lowndes, in a message to the Assembly on the 17th 
of October, as it was about to adjourn, called the atten- 
tion of the members to the great neglect of elections. 
Upon occasions of elections, he said, when so much is at 
stake, it was highly reprehensible, if not criminal, for any 
man to absent himself ; no inconvenience, no private con- 
siderations, can excuse so dangerous a neglect. How as- 
tonishing, then, has been the supineness and indifference 
of the people in respect to elections — the corner-stone 
in the fabric of a free constitution ! To see members of 
a respectable parish or district nominated by two or three 
of the inhabitants, and sometimes barely by the returning 
officer, has been a subject of regret to every lover of his 
country. We are now dignified b}' the title of Freemen ; 
we have formed and adapted our Constitution to that 
character. We are the guardians and guarantees of that 
C(mstitution. Let us act under the influence of these con- 
siderations, and at the approaching elections throughout 
the State exhibit an example of watchfulness and inde- 
pendency, attention and zeal for the preservation of our 
liberties, that may stimulate the inhabitants, at future 
elections and diffuse through all ranks and orders of men 
an emulation in the discharge of these duties.^ 

Tiie approaching election referred to by President 
Lowndes was the first to be held under the new Constitu- 
tion, wliich John Rutledge had vetoed as closing the door 
to a reconciliation with the mother country. It took 
place on the last iNIonday in November, the 30tli, and 
judging by the returns for Charlestown there does not 
seem to have been any new life infused into the councils 
of the State by the extended franchise and the increased 
representation. Indeed, from the list of those returned, 
^ So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, October 17, 1778. 



280 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLIXA 

it seems as if Charlestowii had found it difficult to find 
thirty persons to represent it in the new Assembly ; or if 
not so, the ruling families had still retained their politi- 
cal influence, and that without regard to their respective 
positions upon the great questions at issue. In the new 
body — the ^Senate — the representatives of the town were 
Charles Pinckney and Henry jNliddleton, both elderly, 
conservative men, and both of whom were soon to retire 
from the contest. Including tlie Senate and House, there 
were four Pinckneys, — Colonel Charles Pinckney and his 
son, Charles Pinckney, Jr., Cliarles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
and his brother Thomas. The three Rutledges, John, 
Hugh, and Edward, and their brother-in-law, Roger 
Smith. The two INliddletons, Henry and Arthur, father 
and son. The two Laurenses, Henrj^ and John, father 
and son. Two lingers, brothers, Daniel and Isaac. 
Henry Laurens and William Henry Drayton, tliough 
members serving in Congress, were chosen as representa- 
tives in the Assembly. Christopher Gadsden and Will- 
iam Henry Drayton, the extreme Revolutionists, and John 
Rutledge, who was seeking reconciliation, were alike 
chosen. Daniel Cannon and William Johnson were also 
elected. In looking over the list of representatives chosen 
at this election, and recollecting the part they had played 
and the various and opposing views they had expressed and 
acted upon, we cannot believe that their choice was the 
result of any general election or action on the part of the 
people. It must have been the result of some arrange- 
ment b}'' wdiich all those who had taken an}- part in public 
affairs up to this time were returned, regardless of what 
was their position upon the great issue at stake. Neitlier 
party perhaps felt strong enough to make an issue with 
the other. 

The Assembly met on the first Monday in January, 1779, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 281 

whereupon Rawlins Lowndes, the President under the 
lorniei- Constitution, wlio was, no doubt, rejoiced to be 
relieved from his anoniahjus position, addressed the body 
ill a message, in whicii he told them that the choice of 
(tllicors to lill the various ollices of State under the new 
Constitution was their most important business, and as 
their affairs would now, in all probability, be conducted 
more by arms than councils, and their success, in a great 
maimer, depend upon military ability and experience, 
they should look to these qualities in the choice of a chief 
magistrate. To these he declared himself unfitted, and 
expressed the highest pleasure and satisfaction in the 
hope of a speedy dismission from office. The Senate and 
House replied most courteously, and assured his Excel- 
lency that he underrated his abilities. But they went into 
an election, and John liutledge, who had in March before 
vetoed the Constitution, and resigned the office of chief 
magistrate rather than take part in closing the door to an 
acconunodation with England, was now recalled to be the 
head of the State; and being elected Governor and Com- 
mander-in-chief, under the Constitution he had refused to 
ap[)rove, he was proclaimed amidst the acclamation of the 
people, the discharge of the field-pieces of the artillery, 
and the volleys of infantry. Then his Excellency, at- 
tended by the Senate and House of Representatives and 
their officers, proceeded from the State House to the Ex- 
change in solemn procession as of old, and was received 
there as Governor with every demonstration of respect.^ 

Tliomas Heyward, Jr., a member of Congress who Avas not 
present, was elected Lieutenant Governor ; but on learn- 
ing it, declined. Thomas Ree was chosen in his place. ^ 

1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, February 11, 1779. 
' Ibid, February 19; Gazette of the Stale of South Carolina, Febru- 
ary 24, 1779. 



282 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The Privy Council elected were Colonel Charles 
Pinckney, Christopher Gadsden, Roger Smith, and Thomas 
Ferguson for two years ; John Edwards, John Neuf- 
ville. Colonel Isaac Motte, and John Parker for one 
year.i 

^ So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, February 19, 1779. Governor John 
Drayton, the son of William Henry Drayton and editor of his Memoirs. 
thus accounts for the condition of parties and the curious results of elec- 
tions, the same constituency returning persons of such different political 
views : — 

" For it must not be understood that the individuals whose names 
have been mentioned as leading opposition in the public councils had 
any other than the purest views in so doing : as every free independent 
citizen of tliis community has from the first settlement of this colony 
maintained his right to comment on the proceedings of the government, 
as affecting his liberty, his rights, and his property ; and as men view 
occurrences through the mediums best suited to their several capacities. 
Besides, it must not be forgotten that the citizens of South Carolina did 
not lead, but followed the American Revolution. They had been mildly 
treated by the Royal government, and therefore did not hastily lose sight 
of British protection. Hence the public mind weighed how far it should 
support violent measures against the ancient government, and did not give 
way until the revolutionary troubles and revolutionary principles thence 
arising led them step by step to concede points as proper and patriotic 
which a short time before they had thought disloyal and unadvisable. 
For these reasons the opposition members were always kept in place, as 
eliciting by their opposition more prudent measures. And that their con- 
duct in so doing was not disapproved the high public stations to which 
many of them were called during the most critical times of the Rewilu- 
tion will be the best assurance of the public approbation. In their life- 
time it was their best reward, and to their posterity who now profit by 
their ancestors' services it will ever be a source of happy reflection — that 
they did not struggle for their own and their country's right in vain." — 
Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 88, 89. 



CHAPTER XIV 

1778 

The British commissioners having failed in their 
embassy sailed for England in November, 1778; and 
about the same time an embarkation took place from 
New York, Avhich was the commencement of a transfer of 
the war to the South. The invasion from Canada having 
ended in Burgo3'ne's defeat and capture, and the opera- 
tions in the Middle States having at the end of three 
years failed to secure any other permanent result than the 
occupation of New York, the British government deter- 
mined, while keeping a sufficient force before Washington 
and the main body of tlie American army, so as to prevent 
succor to the distant States of Georgia and South Carolina, 
to transfer to these States the scene of hostilities. 

There were strong reasons for this course. South Caro- 
lina and Georgia produced the commodities which were 
most wanted in the European markets. France took an 
immense quantity of their staple products, and the quiet 
and security which they had hitherto enjoyed had allowed 
the cultivation of these crops to continue without inter- 
rui)tion, so that tlieir export trade seemed little otherwise 
alTected by the war than what it suffered from the British 
cruisers. Thus in effect the American credit in Europe 
was principally upheld by these Southern States; and tliey 
became the medium tlnough which the Middle States 
received most of the supplies that were not onh' indis- 
pensably necessary to the support of the war, but even to 

283 



284 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the conducting of the common business and affairs of life.^ 
From the victory of the 28th of June, 17 70, Charlestown 
had become the storehouse of merchandise and the retreat 
of privateers, and into its harbor were brought their prizes 
for condemnation. Besides this, it was believed that a 
much greater proportion of the inhabitants of these prov- 
inces were still well affected to the British government 
than of those in the Northern. Then, from the great dis- 
tance of these States from the arm}' under Washington 
it was impossible for him to conduct their defence, and 
scarcely possible to lend them any material assistance. 
Moreover, Sir Henry Clinton, from New York, having com- 
mand of the water, would be enabled to transport his forces 
to and from the South with much greater facility and in 
much less time than could Washington from the Jerseys. 
It was therefore determined to make an essay in the South 
and to begin with Georgia, the 3'oungest and weakest and 
most lo3'al to Great Britain of all the colonies, which, 
though in itself neither great nor powerful, possessed con- 
siderable importance as a granary to the invaders, and 
much more so as its occupation opened the way to opera- 
tions against South Carolina. These considerations deter- 
mined the British, now that all hopes of reconciliation 
were at an end, to undertake an expedition to Georgia 
and to renew the struggle from that strategic point. ^ 
Let us see what M^ere the forces in South Carolina to meet 
the invasion which was now shortly to come, and inquire 
somewhat into the military system upon which the Revolu- 
tion was carried on. 

The military defence of the revolted colonies was based 
on no general uprising of tlie people. There was no call 
for volunteers as in tlio war between the States in 1861; 

1 Annual Bcc/istcr for 1779 (Londmi), 29, 

2 Hist, of Ueonje /// (BUsol), vol. Ill, 122. 



IN THE IJEVOLUTIOX 285 

nor was there any attempted levy en masse as in France in 
17*J3; nor was there, nor could there he, an}- leliance Avhat- 
soever in the militia. A militia indeed can he depended 
upon only hy a government which is universally recog- 
nized, and is most dangerous to one which has not the 
cordial support of the whole people. This fact was fully 
recognized by the leaders of the Revolution, and experi- 
ence everywhere demonstrated its truth. Washington in 
his letters again and again declares that no dependence 
whatsoever could be put in the militia; and the same thing 
was repeated by the officers in South Carolina. How 
could it he otherwise when there was scarcely a leading 
family in the province which was not divided between the 
jving and the Congress? To call out the militia was to 
call out perha[)S as many friends of his ^Majesty King 
(leorge the Tiiird as of the new government, and to put 
arms in the hands of such was sometimes but furnishing 
them to the invaders. When the people would not take 
the trouble at such a time to go to the polls to vote under 
the new Constitution, it was scarcely to be expected they 
would turn out to fight for it. 

From the commencement the theory of the Revolutionists 
was that of a regular army. A regular force was to be 
raised after the manner of the European armies; and the 
material sought for the rank and file was of the same 
description. So the Provincial Congress in 1775 deter- 
mined to raise three regiments of five hundred men each, 
two of infantry and one of rangers, in the nature of 
mounted infantr3^ The military ardor, we are told, was 
so great that many more candidates presented themselves 
from the first families in the i)rovince as officers of the first 
two regiments than were wanted; but it was as officers 
these desired to serve — not in the rank and file. The 
officers were to have the pay and rations as in the British 



286 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAIIOLINA 

service at the time, the soldiers one shilling sterling per 
day; the rangers, as the}' were to furnish their own horses, 
X20 currency. This force upon which a revolution was to 
be effected was thus to consist of fifteen hundred men!^ 
Kamsay thinks that had America seriously intended in- 
dependence from the beginning, she might in the first stage 
of the contest have easily recruited one hundred thousand 
men to serve during the war; but aiming, he says, at 
nothing but a redress of grievances, and flattering herself 
with the hopes of accomplishing this in a little time, all 
her schemes were of a temporary nature. ^ But this is 
begging the whole question; for it can be just as safely 
asserted that if independence had been avowed when it 
was first proposed to raise troops in South Carolina not a 
man would have been enlisted. Gadsden's declaration in 
favor of independence and separation six months after- 
wards was received with abhorrence. 

The military system under which the Revolution was 
carried on was utterly inadequate and inefficient. Con- 
gress had, as early as the 15th of June, 1775, adopted the 
army around Boston and assumed the control of military 
operations. But this it will be recollected was a year 
before the Declaration of Independence, and the force thus 
adopted was designated the Continetital anni/, in contra- 
distinction to that of the British under General Gage, 
which was called by the Revolutionists the Ministerial 
army; few at this time desiring, and fewer still bold 
enough to acknowledge if they did so desire, a separation 
from England. Tliis name, for want of a better, clung to 
the American army proper for the rest of the war. When 
Washington assumed command of this army, under the 
authority of Congress, he found it much smaller in num- 
bers than he had been led to suppose, and an ill-con- 

1 Moultrie'.s Memoirs, G4. ^ Kauisay's lievolulion. vol. II, lOo. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 287 

ditioned and irrregiilar force stretched out to beleaguer 
the town.^ It was composed of minutemen and volun- 
teers who had hastily assembled for a tem[)orary service 
and with no idea of engaging in a long war; and as the 
summer passed away, and the novelty and excitement of 
the occasion wore off, the men became impatient of the 
dull service in the siege and anxious to return to their 
homes, nor did they often wait for leave to do so. It 
became necessary, therefore, to reorganize this army, and 
on the 15th of October, 1775, there arrived in camp a com- 
mittee of Congress, sent to confer with Washington and 
with delegates from the government of the New England 
States on the subject. The committee consisted of Ben- 
jamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina, and 
Colonel Harrison of Virginia. Under the report of this 
committee it was proposed to raise a new army of 22,270 
men, to be recruited as much as possible from the troops 
then in actual service. But still without any purpose of 
a permanent separation from England or of a long war to 
maintain it, this force was to be enlisted but for one 3'ear. 
The reenlistment under this act of Congress proved a 
source of perplexity to Washington, who found the great- 
est difficulty in securing it. The troops, especially those 
from Connecticut, would not remain in camp long enough 
to allow the new recruits to be organized for their relief. 
Washiiifrton's letters of the time are filled with the bit- 
terest complaints of the want of public spirit and virtue 
in the people. Instead of pi-essing to be engaged in the 
cause of their country, which, he writes, he had vainly 
flattered himself would have been the case, he found him- 
self likely to be deserted in a most critical time.^ Nor was 
the condition of the army improved when Boston was 
evacuated by the British and the battle of Long Island 
1 Lift of Washington (Irving), vol. VI, 7. •^ Ibid., 87. 



288 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

liaJ taken place, and he had been compelled to retreat 
through the Jerseys. His enlisted men became dispirited; 
and the militia, dismayed, intractable, and impatient to 
go home, deserted in great numbers, in some instances 
almost by whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies 
at a time. 

" All these circumstcances," writes Washington to the President of 
Congress on the 2d of September, 1776, " fully confirms the opinion I 
have ever entertained, and which more than once in ujy letter took the 
liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put 
in a militia or other troops than those enlisted and embodied for a 
longer period than our regulations hitherto prescribed. I am persuaded, 
and as fully convinced as I am of any one fact that has happened, 
that our liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded if not entirely 
lost if this defence is left to any but a permanent standing army. I 
mean to exist during the war." ^ 

Washington, it will be observed, had no idea of such 
an organization of volunteers, neither regulars nor militia, 
which has, as we have before pointed out, become in a 
great measure the military system of the United States; 
an organization with which the Mexican War was, to a 
large extent, conducted, which was the organization on 
both sides in the war between the States in 18G1-65, was 
again resorted to in the late Spanish War, and is now, 
under the name of yeomanry, adopted, to a considerable 
extent, by the British government in the war in South 
Africa; an organization in which men of the highest char- 
acter and position may serve in the ranks from patriotism, 
regardless of pay; an oiganization which, formed by enlist- 
ment for definite periods, — sometimes for a whole war, — • 
combines the permanence of a regular force with the 
superior zeal and character of the })atriot. Washington's 
idea of a jjroper organization was that of a regular army 
in which the rank and Hie were to be enlisted or hired 
1 Washington's Writings, vol. IV, 72. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 289 

moil — men of indifferent characters who would serve for 
pay, and for pay subject themselves to the subordination 
and ligor of military discipline without regard to the 
cause for which they were hired to fight. He wished, in 
his own language, "a permanent standing army," and 
that was just what a large party of the Revolutionists were 
unwilling to establish, fearing that such an army might 
be used for setting up another monarchical government. 

Thus urged, however. Congress soon after the defeat on 
Long Island, that is in the fall of 1776, adopted a scheme 
for the reorganization of the army by which 88 battalions 
of G80 men each were to be raised in the several States in 
proportion to their assumed ability severally to furnish 
them. Massachusetts and Virginia were each to furnish 
15 battalions; Pennsylvania, 12; North Carolina, 9; Con- 
necticut, 8; South Carolina, 6 ; New York and New Jersey, 
each 4 ; New Hampshire and Maryland, each 3; Khode 
Island, 2; Delaware and Georgia, each 1.^ From General 
Knox's report as Secretary of Wai-, May 10, 1790, it appears 
that besides these the commander-in-chief was authorized 
to raise 16 additional regiments of infantry and 3 of artillery, 
also a body of cavalry of 3000 men.^ This scheme should 
have produced a force of 75,000 men. The number Gen- 
eral Knox reports as furnished was 34,820. A most 

1 Marshall's Life of Washingtnn, vol. II, 45G, 457 ; Ilildreth's Hist, of 
tlw U. .v., vol. Ili, 104. 

2 Am. State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. I, 15. The report, it should 
be observed, was compiled seven years after the war from such returns 
a.s could then be found. It is manifestly inaccurate. There was no 
Kxecutive under the Confederation, no Secretary of War. Congress 
undertook to manage the affairs of the army itself by Boards and Com- 
mittees. Tlie returns of the time were thus furnished by the States, and 
we iiave Washington's authority for the fact that they were unreliable. 
Knox's report to Congress is not a contemporaneous document. It is 
very certain tiiat no such luimber of men as he reports were ever actually 
in the field. Many were only cm paper. 

VOL. III. — U 



290 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

extraordinary error, apparently originating in a statement 
found in the collections of the New Hampshire Historical 
Society, makes the number of continental troops actually 
furnished during the Revolution as 231,971, and the 
militia as 56,163, making a grand total of troops engaged 
in the struggle 288,134.^ This result is brought about by 
adding together the number of men reported by General 
Knox as furnished for each of the eight years of the war as 
if they were different and additional men for each of the 
years. Whereas Knox's report itself shows that in the 
year 1776 all the States together reported on paper but 
46,891 continental troops ; in 1777 but 34,820; in 1778 but 
32,899; in 1779 but 27,699; in 1780 but 21,015; in 1781 
but 13,292; in 1782 but 14,256 ; in 1783 but 13,476; so that 
the largest number of continental troops returned in any 
year was that in 1776, in which the siege of Boston, battle 
of Fort Moultrie, and the battle of Long Island took place. 
The continental troo^is at first were enlisted but for six 
months, then for some longer periods, and some for the whole 
war. John Adams states that after a careful examination 
of the most authentic documents he was satisfied that there 
never was, at any time in North America, including the 
Canadas, more than 25,000 British troops during the war.^ 

1 Am. Almanac, 1830, 187 ; 1831, 112 ; Niles' Register, July 31, 1830 ; 
Am. Loyalists (Sabine), 31. 

2 Letter of December, 1809, published in the Literary World (Xew 
York), quoted by Simms in his So. Ca. in the Am. Revolution, 54. 

As a matter of interest the following table is given as showing the 
comparative strength of the two armies, American and British, on paper, 
(luring the years 1777, 1778, 1770, 1780, 1781, and 1782. The strength of 
the American forces is taken from the report of General Knox as Secre- 
tary of War, made May 10, 1700, and that of the Britisli from the returns 
in the State Paper Office, London, quoted in Washington's Writings, 

vol. V, 542. 

Amorican British 

1777 continentals, .'{4,S20 militia returned, 10,100 20,{»57 

1778 " 32,899 " " 4,:r).3 estimated, 13,800 34,0r>4 



IN THE IJEVULUTIOX 291 

Mv. Sabine enlarges upon the estimate of the New 
Ilanipshiiv Historical Society and makes the aggregate 
force furnished by all the States (including continentals 
as 281,951), militia returned 58,747, and a conjectural 
estimate of militia in service 1U5,580) 396,286. ^ That 
is, about one soldier for every eight of inhabitants by 
the estimate of population by Congress at 3,026,678.^ 
Tlie case of South Carolina furnishes an illustration 
of the fallacies of these estimates. By that of Mr. Sabine 

American British 

1779 continentals, 27 ,f)'.n) militia returned, 5,135 estimated, 12,350 38,569 

1780 " 21,015 " " 5,811 " 1(),250 3;5,7()6 

1781 " 13,292<' " " 7,298 " 8,750 33,374« 

1782 " 14,25<; " " " 3,750 42,075 

' The Am. Loyalists (Sabine), 31. The inquiry naturally arises if 
there were so many Americans in the field where did they fight, and 
why did they not drive the British, who never numbered 50,000, out of 
the country without waiting for the assistance of France. The numbers 
of Americans present at the great battles of the war other than those dis- 
cussed in this work were as follows: Long Island, 27,000 (Marshall's Life 
of Washinfjtnn, vol. II, 429) ; Trenton and Princeton, between 5000 and 
GOOO (Irvine's Life, of Washiiiyton, vol. II, 40!)) ; Saratoga, continental, 
'.»!)9;3, militia, 4129 = 14,122 (Marshall's Life of Washimjton, vol. Ill, 
291 H.) ; Brandywine, 11,000 effective {Ibid., vol. Ill, 141) ; German- 
town, 8000 continentals. .jOOO militia (fhid., Mo) ; winter quarters Valley 
Forge, 17,000 (Ihid. 375) ; Monmouth, 10,084 (Ihid., 402) ; Yorktown, 
5500 continentals and 3500 militia, 7000 French troops (Ibid., vol. IV, 
494). See this subject also di.scussed by Mr. Simms, under the name of 
Southron, in his So. Ca. in the Rev. War, etc. (1853), 59. It is, however, 
a mistake to say that there were 1000 South Carolina troops in the 
North. There were none. The Carolinians mentioned as being in Phila- 
delphia were fJeneral Na.sh's brigade of North Carolinians. 

'^ Memoirs of the lieroJntion (Drayton), vol. I, 15. 

« Lord (locirpo (Icrinain, Minister of War, writes to Sir Henry Clinton on the "th March, 
ITSl : " Indeed, so contemptible is the liebel Force now in all Parts, and so vast is Our 
Pii|ifrlorlty everywhere that no resistance on their Parts is to be apprehended that can 
materially obstruct the Progress of the Kinps arms in the Speedy Sui)pression of the 
Iletx-llion ; and it Is a pleasini: tho'at the same time a mortifyintr reflection, when the Dura- 
tion of the Rf 1 ellion is consiilered, which arises from the view of this Uetnrn of the I'rovin- 
cial Forces Vmi have transmitti'd, that the American Levieslli the Kinjrs Service are more 
In number than the whole of the Inlisted Troops in the Service of the Congress." Clinton- 
Cornicallia Controverty, Tol. I, 335. 



292 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

the State is credited Avitli 6600 continentals and a conjec- 
tural estimate of militia in service at 25,850, in all 32,510. 
But no estimate of South Carolina's population could have 
furnished that number. The highest estimate of the num- 
ber of whites in 1775 was 75,000.^ The census of 1790, 
it is true, nearly doubles that number and makes it 
140,178. This is, in a great measure, explained by the 
multitude from abroad and from the more northern parts of 
America which poured into the State after the peace of 
1783. So great was this influx of population that the 
present counties of Greenville, Pickens, and Oconee — 
the territory acquired from the Indians in 1777 — tilled so 
rapidly from 1783 that in 1800 they alone contained up- 
wards of 30,000 souls. ^ But this would scarcel}' fully ac- 
count for the great difference between the former estimates 
and the census of 1790. The fault is probabl}'^ in both the 
estimates and the census. The latter was the first taken 
in the United States, and was probably not very accurately 
made. It was, in fact, not completed in South Carolina 
until the 25th of February, 1792.^ In 1787 the population 
of South Carolina was estimated for representation by 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 377-507. In the 
war between the States in 1801-05 the State of South Carolina, however, 
with a white population of but 201, .'500, and an arms-bearing population 
(i.e.. of white men between tlie ages of 18 and 45) in 1800 of but 55,040 
{War of the liebeUion Official Records, Series III, vol. Ill, 44), put into 
tlie field 44,000 volunteers before the passage of any conscript act ; and 
during the war 02,8o8 effective men, and had an enrolment of 71,08:1, of 
which 22 per cent were killed or died of disease or died in prison. Report 
of the Historian of the Confederate Records to the General Assembl;/ of 
So. Ca. TI>is was a most extraordinary uprising, but it would have been 
nothing in comparison to that of the Revolution if Mr. Sabine's estimate 
were correct. 

2 Mills' Statistics, 170. 

' S. S. Cox, art. "Census," Supplement to Encyclopedia Britannica, 
vol. I, 704. 



IX THE KEVOLUTION 293 

the Constitutional Convention of the United States at 
ir>(),(J()0, i nel u(l ing three-fifths of 80, (JUG negroes, that is, 
102,000 whites and 80,000 negroes.^ For want of a more 
reliable standard, if we aeoept foi' our present purpose the 
number of wiiites at 100,000 in 1775, instead of the highest 
of former estimates, 75,000, by Mr. Sabine's figures, the 
State would have furnished, as soldiers, one-third of its 
white population, including men, women, and children. 
But in addition to this it must be remembered that the 
inhabitants of the State were by no means unanimous upon 
the subject of the Revolution. Thej'^ were indeed utterly 
divided. And while there were but few men in the State 
who did not actually bear arms on the one side or the other, 
the population which supported the Revolution could not 
in any case have exceeded the 65,000 at which the popu- 
lation was estimated at the time. Mr. Sabine's estimate 
in the case of the State of South Carolina, which would 
be one soldier in every three of white population at its 
highest figure, is wholly inadmissible. 

Under the plan for the reorganization of the army, as we 
have seen, the Continental army should have numbered 
75,000 men. It, in fact, never reached, at any given time, 
but little more than one-third of that number. Washing- 
ton, writing to a committee of Congress on the 15th of Janu- 
ary, 1770, states tl)at unless he was mistaken 20,000 was 
a larger number than ever was in the field ;^ and again in 
a letter to the President of Congress of the 18th of Novem- 
ber of the same 3'ear he sends a return taken from the mus- 
ter rolls of October of the troops of each State except South 
Carolina and Georgia, from which he says Congress will 
perceive "that our wdiole force, including all sorts of 
troops, non-commissioned officers and privates, drummers 

1 Elliot's Di-hatcs, vol. IV, 275. 

a Wivshington's Wridnys, vol. VI, 161. 



294 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and fifers, supposing every man to have existed and to 
have been in service at that time, a pointy however, totally 
inadmissible, amounted to but tiventy-seven thousand and 
iiinety-nine.''' ^ And this was the number of continentals 
reported by General Knox for that year.^ By the plan of 
Congress, assuming that each year's returns Avere to be 
of additional men, as in the estimate of the New Hamp- 
shire Historical Society, which has been so blindly and 
generally followed, the number of co)itinentals should at 
that time have reached the enormous figure of 142, 309. ^ 
Washington, it will be observed, states that u[) to 1779 
there had never been in the field actually more than 26,000. 
The apportionment of the quotas of the various States, by 
Congress in 1770, was based u|)on an estimate of the popu- 
lation made by Congress, it was said, from the best calcu- 
lation.* But this estimate was not at all correct, and was 
certainly in some instances, if not in all, greater than the 
population proved to be. For instance, Massachusetts 
was put down as having a population of 400,000, whereas, 
in fact, she did not have but 352,000.^ New Hampshire 
' Washington's Writings, vol. VI, 402. 

2 Am. State Papers, Military Affairs, vol. I, 17. 

3 Continentals reported by General Knox : — 

1776 46,891 

1777 34,820 

1778 32,899 

1770 27,609 

Total 142,309 

* Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. I, 15. 
Massachusetts . . , 400,000 Pennsylvania and Dela- 

New Hampshire . . . 150,000 ware 350,000 

Rhode Island .... 59,078 Maryland 320,000 

Connecticut .... 102,000 Virginia 650,000 

New York 250,000 North Carolina . . . 300,000 

New Jersey .... 130,000 South Carolina . . . 225 .000 

Total of the twelve associated colonies 3,026,676 

6 Am. Enci/cloptedia, Eaton S. Drone. 



IN THE KE VOLUTION 295 

was estimaU'd at l')0,000, whereas a survey taken the 
year before, 1775, partly by enumeration and partly by 
estimation, for the purpose of establishing a proper 
i-cpresentation of the peo[)le, made the whole number 
82,200.' So, too, with South Carolina the estimate (|f 
225,000 was far in excess of the truth. We have shown 
that the white population at the utmost was not over 
100,000; the number of negroes could not have made up 
the dift'erenee. By Governor Bull's report in 1769 the 
negroes in the colony numbered 80, 000. ^ During the 
year 1770 importation had been prohibited.^ We have no 
mention of the number of negroes im[)orted in 1771; but 
we have the statement, of the South Carolina Gazette^ 
that in 1773 the importation reached the figures of 11,641, 
which was the greatest number imported in any year; 
that tlie next greatest number imported in a year was 4865, 
in 1772. The importation, therefore, in 1771 could not 
have reached the latter figure. The report of the histori- 
cal connnittee of the Charleston Library estimates the 
number of negroes in 1773 as 110,000. Dr. Milligan puts 
them in 1775 at 104,000. Mr. Laurens estimated thera 
in 1778, to the French minister, at 80,000. The Consti- 
tutional Convention in 1787 put them for representation 
at the same figure. By the census of 1790 they were 
107,094. For our present purpose we will assume the 
estimates made by Mr. Laurens and the Constitutional 
Convention as probably correct, or nearly so, and put 
the whole population whether white or black at 180,000. 

In 1754 there appears to have been, by an official census, 
2448 negro slaves over sixteen years of age in Massachu- 
setts."* Supposing that by 1775 these had been doubled in 

1 Belknap's JliM. of X. If., vol. I, 234. 

2 Jlist. itf So. Ca. under Hoy. Gov. (McCrady). 807. 

» Ibid., 380, 381. * Hildreth, vol. II, 419. 



296 IIISTOKV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

numbers, and that with those under sixteen years of age 
the negro popuhition of that State to liave been 6000, — 
a hirge estimate, — and deducting tliese GOOO from 352,000, 
there must yet liave remained 340,000 white i)eo[)le in 
Massachusetts to have furnished 15 battalions of 080 men 
each = 10,800, Avhile the 100,000 white people in South 
Carolina, assuming that they were so many, were called 
upon to furnish 6 battalions = 4080 men. The white 
people in JNIassachusetts were called upon to furnish 1 
continental soldier for each 32 of inhabitants ; the white 
people in South Carolina to furnish 1 continental soldier 
in every 25. In other words, the white people in South 
Carolina were called upon to furnish 25 per cent more 
continental soldiers in proportion to their numbers than 
were the white people in Massachusetts. It may, however, 
have been arefued that as the slaves would furnish the labor 
to maintain the agriculture in such parts of the country as 
might remain in the peaceful possession of the States, and 
thus support the white men in the field, some allowance 
should be made on that account. But this is supposing 
the country could be preserved from invasion. Upon inva- 
sion the negro slaves at that time became a source of weak- 
ness to the invaded and of strength to the invader, even 
though he was not used by the invader as a soldier in his 
army. During the Avar between the States in 1801-65 it 
is true that the reverse was the fact, and that negro labor 
on the plantations allowed nearly all the white men in 
the Confederacy to take the field; but that, it must be 
i-emembered, was nearly a century later, when no importa- 
tion of negroes had taken })lace for sixty years, and wlu'u 
the relation between masters and slaves in the South had 
greatly iin^jroved. To the lastiug honor of tlie Southeru 
people the future hist(u-iaii will jioiut to the extraordinary 
fact that during the four tcirible years of the war, while 



IN THE REVOLUTION 297 

the whole country was invaded, so kindly were the rela- 
tions between the negro slaves and their masters that in 
no single instance was there a rising against the women 
and cliildreii of the Confederate soldiers upon the part of 
the negro slaves in whose care they were left. Negro 
troops, it is true, were raised b}'- the Federal government, 
but only in territory permanently occupied by them. 
With immense armies surrounding the whole country, 
which came proclaiming their emancipation, millions of 
negro slaves remained faithful to their absent masters, 
who were in the field figliting for a cause which would 
retain them in slavery. But the case was very different 
at the time of the Revolution. Negro slaves at that time 
were in a far less civilized condition; a large part of them 
were newly imported from Africa. Under these circum- 
stances planters, liowever well disposed to the Revolution, 
with great reason objected to leaving their families sur- 
nninded by these savages. When, therefore, the move- 
ments of the opposing armies left their plantations exposed 
to the invaders, no sense of patriotism, hoAvever strong, 
could overcome the demands of family affeption and pa- 
rental duty. Men would not leave their wives and children 
to the mercy of their slaves, incited to rapine and murder 
by the presence of, if not by the actual instigation of, a 
hostile army. If the New England militiaman could not 
be kept to the lines around Boston, though his family at 
home were in no immediate danger, still less could it be 
exj)ected that the Carolinian on tlie coast should remain 
in the field wliile his were exposed to tlie barbarity of the 
savage and in the interior to tlie merciless Indian, in ad- 
dition to the ordinary terrors of invasion. This appor- 
tionment, moreover, was based upon the assumption that 
the white peo[)le were practically united; but such was 
not the ease in Soutli Carolina; in no other State was there 



298 HISTOIIY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

SO great and persistent a division as to the causes of the 
war and its conduct, — a division, however, wliich the 
coming invasion was, in a great measure, to obliterate. 

South Carolina made no question, however, of her allot- 
ment, and undertook to provide the men called for. The 
State, as we have seen, had raised six regiments of pro- 
vincial regulars. These regiments were transferred by the 
Provincial Assembly to the Continental service, and if they 
did not fill the quota called for, they furnished a well- 
organized and disciplined body, which had already seen 
service in battle and acquired a confidence gained only by 
victory.^ In 1779 another — a regiment of Light Dra- 
goons — had been raised by the Assembl}', of which Daniel 
Horry was Colonel, Hezekiah Mahan, Major, John Cou- 
turier, John Hampton, James McDonald, James Dogharty, 
Thomas Giles, Benjamin Screven, and Richard Gougli 
were captains.^ 

Under the act of Congress the soldiers of the continental 
regiments who were to be enlisted for the war were to be 
entitled, at the end of the service, to a land bounty of one 
hundred acres. Colonels were to have five hundred acres, 
and inferior officers an intermediate quantity correspond- 

1 These regiments as taken on the Continental establishment in 1776 
were as follows : — 

First South Carolina ... 750 

Second South Carolina 750 

. Third South Carolina, or rangers 450 

Fourth South Carolina, or artillery 300 

Fifth South Carolina, riflemen 700 

Sixth South Carolina, rifiemen 500 

Total 3450 

General Knox's report credits South Carolina in 1770 with but 2069 
continentals. In 1777 they were recruited up to full regiments of ten 
companies each. 

2 The Gazette of the State of So. Ca., Feb. 24, 1779 ; Ramsay's Rev. 
in So. Ca., vol. II, 19. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 299 

ing to their rank. Twenty dollars was to be given to 
each recruit. So great, however, was the difficulty in ob- 
taining such enlistment that an option was allowed for 
enlisting for three years; but these three-year recruits 
were to have no land. The States were to enlist their 
respet'tive quotas, appoint their regimental officers, and 
provide them with arms and clothing. But the expenses 
of the operations, as well as the pay and expenses of the 
troops, were to be a common charge.^ 

But these inducements were not found sufficient to fill 
the continental regiments, and the States began bidding 
against each otlier for recruits. Massachusetts offered an 
extra bounty of $(36, and South Carolina in 1779 first 
offered a bounty of $500 to every one who would volun- 
tarily enlist in either of her continental regiments for a 
period of sixteen months within one month from the 29th 

^ Hiklreth, vol. Ill, 1G4. John Adams was opposed to long enlist- 
ments. He was willing that General Washington might obtain as many 
men as he could, " But I contended," he says, " that I knew the number 
to be obtained in this way would be very small in New England, from 
•whence almost the whole army was derived (?). A regiment might 
possibly be obtained of the meanest, idlest, and worthless, but no more. 
A regiment was no army to defend this country. We must have trades- 
men's sons and farmers' sons, or we would be without defence ; and 
such men would certainly not enlist during the war or for long periods 
as yet. The service was too new ; tiiey had not yet become attached 
to it by habit. Was it credible," he asks, "that men who could get at 
home better living, more comfortable lodgings, more than double the 
wages, in safety, not exposed to the sickness of the camp, would bind 
themselves during the war ? I knew it to be impossible. In the Middle 
States, since they imported from Ireland and Germany so many trans- 
ported convicts and redemptioncrs, it was possible they might obtain 
some. Let them try. I had no objection." — The Life and Works of 
John Ailnms. vol. Ill, 48. And yet, incredible as such an enlistment 
seemed to Mr. Adams, in the war between the States, the autlior of this 
work served in a brigade of five thousand South Carolinians, including the 
highest and best in the land, who in 18(51 voluntarily enlisted for the 
whole war, and served throughout it, regardless of the amount of their pay. 



300 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of Jamiaiy, with a decreasing rate for those who enlisted 
thereafter.^ A few months after the bounty was enhirged 
to $500 in hand paid on enlistment and $2000 more at the 
end of twenty-one months' faithful service. These boun- 
ties were to be paid in indents of the Treasur}-, having ten 
per cent interest. ^ A further bounty of one hundred acres 
of land was also promised, and in case a soldier so enlisting 
should die or be killed in the service the indent and the land 
were to p-o to his lawful heirs. The limitation in this act 
of the jjromise of these bounties to those only who should 
voluntarily enlist was not without significance, since the 
State had adopted, as we shall see, the device of recruit- 
ing her battalions by forcing into their ranks, by way of 
punishment, all men convicted of being idle, lewd, and 
disorderly, or sturdy beggars. A few months after the 
bounty was increased to $500 more upon enlistment and 
$2500 more at the end of twenty-one months' faithful 
service.^ 

Washington was no doubt right in regard to the reor- 
ganization of the army into one of regulars, not only from 
a purely militaiy point of view, but under the condition 
of affairs as they did actually exist. The plan was never- 
theless unbecoming a people struggling for freedom. All 
this effort was to hire or force others to do the fighting 
for those who claimed to seek liberty and independence. 
The signers of the Declaration of Independence were 
generally young men, or were at least of military nge. 
Those from Soutli Carolina, as we have seen, did not 
average thirty years, and yet though the signers pledged 
each other, — their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honor in its support, — none of those whom we can recall 
regularly entered the military service to maintain it, and 

1 Statutes of So. Ca., vmI. IV, 401. 

2 Ibid. '^ Ibid., 502. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 301 

few distinguished themselves in the field. ^ Liberty and 
independence were to be bought and paid for. The war 
was to be fought vicariousl3\ But as Grattan once 
exclaimed in the Irish Parliament, "The tiling he proposes 
to buy is what cannot be sold — Liberty! " For alas! the 
candid student of the history of the Revolution must at 
last be forced to recognize and admit that the liberties of 
America Avcre the shuttlecocks of foreign diplomacy, and 
secured at last in the cabinets of Europe rather than upon 
the fields of America. To the shame of America, in 
1780 there were more Americans, it was claimed, serving 
in the Provincial Regiments of the British army than in 
the Continental service of the States; in 1781 there 
were more French troops at Yorktown than American 
regulars. Equality in numbers on that field was only 
maintained by Governor Nelson's Virginia militia. That 
victory was indeed quite as much a victory of France over 
Great Britain as a victory for American independence. 
The American Continental army, rank and file, was now 

1 Several of the signers served from time to time in the State troops 
and militia ; some with distinction. William Whipple of New Hampshire 
was a Brigadier General of militia. Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island 
was an officer in a State regiment. Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut was 
Major General of militia. William Floyd of New York Colonel of 
iiiilitia. Lewis Morris of New York Hrigadier General of militia. Ben- 
jamin Hush and John Morton of Pennsylvania were surgeons. George 
Ross of same State was an officer in a State regiment. Benjamin Harri- 
son of Virginia was paymaster of Virginia State troops. Thomas Nel- 
son, Jr., was commander of Virginia State forces, and as such received 
the thanks of Congress to liimself and his officers and gentlemen for their 
patriotic efforts in the cause of their country. As Governor of Virginia 
he called out tiie State troops, and with them took part in the siege of 
Yorktown. Thomas Heyward, Jr.. and Edward Hutledge were Captains 
in tlie artillery battalion of the Charlestown militia, and as such fougiit 
gallantly at Beaufort and the siege of Ciiarlcstown, Heyward shedding 
his blood. George Walton of Georgia, wlio was Colonel of militia, was 
wounded and taken prisoner at the siege of Savannah. 



302 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

not an army of patriots, as were those who rushed to arms 
around Boston in 1775, or as those we shall see gathering 
around Sumter and Marion in this State in its daikest 
hour, but of mercenaries and hirelings, just as was that of 
Great Britain which was invading the country. Indeed, 
the British regulars and provincial regiments as they were 
depleted by the casualties of war and the expiration of 
the terms of service were recruited from the same class 
of population in America as were the continental regi- 
ments. And so it happened that men who served out 
their terms of enlistment in one army would enlist again 
in the other without regard to the principles for which 
they fought on the one side or the other. To such an 
extent did this exist that we shall see General Greene 
bitterly declaring that he fought Lord Rawdon with his 
deserters, while Rawdon fought him with his own.^ 
Ranks which Avere fdled with sturdy beggars, lewd, idle, 
and disorderly men, and deserters were not the place for 
patriots and decent citizens. If the militiaman was 
insubordinate and would leave the ranks when tired of the 
service, the hired and vagrant continental soldier, with- 
out patriotism or pride, engaged in a desperate cause, and 
often apparently a losing one, would desert when o[)por- 
tunity offered and circumstances invited. The militia- 
man when he left, whether with or without leave, would 
go home. The continental regular when he deserted 
would go to tlie enemy if he could. 

There was no general uprising of the people in America. 
There was none in South Carolina until after the fall of 
Charlestown, the overthrow of the government, and the 
apparent subjugation of the State. Then we shall see tlie 

1 " General Greene was often heard to say ' that at the close of tho 
war we fought the enemy with Hritish soldiers, and they fought us with 
those of America.'" — Johnson's Life of (h'aeue, vol. II, 220. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 303 

people rise against the British, not so much because of 
tlie orinrinal causes of the war, but because of the tyranny, 
oppression, and brutal conduct of the army. Then under 
leadeis who had nothing to do Avith bringing on the war, 
foi-niing themselves into volunteer partisan bands, they 
harassed and embarrassed the enemy's movements, broke 
up their communications, attacked and destroyed their 
outposts, and forced them to battle, and often to defeat. 
This uprising we shall see effecting momentous results for 
the benefit of the cause of the Avhole country. This was 
yet to come, and for the last three years of the struggle 
the war of American independence was fought on Carolina 
soil. But for the present the Revolutionists in South 
Carolina, as elsewhere in America, depended upon the 
regular force, the Continental army, as the proper de- 
fence of the State. 

South Carolina had not only furnished her full 
quota of men for the Continental army, according to 
her population, but she had far exceeded her share 
of ex})enditure in the cause. No State but Massa- 
chusetts equalled her in contributions of money and 
supplies. The commissioners who finally settled the 
accounts for expenses of the respective States during 
tlie Revolution found that the little State with at 
the utmost but 100,000 white inhabitants had ex- 
pended in the common cause i|ll,523,299.29, and that 
after charging her for all advances, including the as- 
suni[)tion of the State debt by the United States at the 
end of the Avar, there was still due her as overpaid 
fi!l,205,978. The great State of Massachusetts, with 
twice the whole population of South Carolina, and more 
tlian three times her wliite population, which suffered 
from no invasion, — whose war the Revolution was, — 
had exceeded her in advances to the common cause by 






304 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

but a few thousand dollars, the overpayment by that 
State having been $1,248,801.1 

South Carolina had a right, therefore, now that the 
scene of war was to be changed from the Northern provinces 
to her soil, to look for assistance against the common 
enemy. But she was far away from the cluster of States 
around the seat of Congress at Philadelphia; the great 
territory of North Carolina, still sparsely populated, lay 
between her and Virginia; and now that Georgia had 
fallen, the same practical difficulty of obtaining assistance 
which had compelled South Carolina to depend upon her 
own resources for defence against the Spaniards and 
French, the Cherokees and the Yamassees, now again arose 
Avhen she appealed to Washington and Congress for a part 
of the continental forces for which she had paid her quota 
— she was too far away ! 

When Geneial Lee left the South, the command at 
Charlestown had devolved upon General Moore of North 
Carolina, who had come to the assistance of South Caro- 
lina in 1776 in command of the First North Carolina 
Continental Regiment.^ He had been promoted a Con- 

1 The Am. Almanac (1831), 112. " It is equally true that South Caro- 
lina was the first State of the thirteen to form an independent constitu- 
tion, and that she overpaid her proportion of the expenditures of the war 
in the sum of $1,205,978." — ^m. Loyalists (Sabine), 80. The States 
which contributed more than their quotas to expenses incurred during the 
Revolutionary war, as allowed by the Commissioners who finally settled 
the accounts, were Massachusetts $1,248,801, South Carolina §l,20r),978, 
Connecticut .$r)in,121, Rhode Lsland $290,(511, New Hampshire $75.05r), 
New Jersey §49,0.30, Georgia $19,988. Those which were found in debt 
to the United States for expenses incurred on their accounts were New 
York $2,()74,84(;, Delaware $012,428, North Carolina $501,082, ^Maryland 
$151,()40, Virginia $100,879, Pennsylvania $70,709. — Pitkin's United 
States, vol. II (Appendix 20), 538 ; A7n. Almanac (1831), 112. 

2 General James Moore was the grandson of James Moore, the first 
Governor of South Carolina of that name, and nephew of James Moore, 



\ 



IX THE REVOLUTION 305 

tinental Brigadier General on the 1st of March of that 
year. Upon his departure the command of the troops 
in South Carolina had been assumed by General Robert 
Howe, who was also from North Carolina, as the senior 
continental officer present. On the 29th of October, 1776, 
Colonels Gadsden and Moultiie had been promoted Briga- 
dier Generals. The First South Carolina Continental 
Regiment was after this commanded by Colonel Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney; the Second by Colonel Isaac 
Motte; the Third, or Rangers, by Colonel William 
Thomson; the Fourth (artillery) by Colonel Owen Rob- 
erts; the Fifth (riflemen) by Colonel Isaac Hnger; the 
Sixth (riflemen) by Colonel Thomas Sumter. The Regi- 
ment of Dragoons, under Colonel Daniel Horry, does not 
appear to have been taken into the continental line. 

Although General Gadsden had always been of a mili- 
tary turn, having in 1756 organized the first artillery corps 
in South Carolina, and with it taken part in Governor 
Lyttleton's expedition against the Cherokees, and from 
which it might be supposed that he gathered some mili- 
tary experience, his temper unfitted him for the subordina- 
tion of military life, and he did not long remain in the 
service. General Howe and himself soon became upon 
such unpleasant terms that when a communication between 
them was necessary it usually passed through General 
Moultrie's hands. The open rupture, which resulted in a 
duel, was upon the question of Howe's right to the com- 
mand. Ill 1777, after General Howe had been in command 
of the post for moie than six months, he received a letter 
from General Gadsden desiring to know by what right he 
commanded, and claiming that he himself was the natural 

who ha<i commanded the expedition sent to the assistance of North 
Camlina in 1713, and wlio was also Cowriior of South Carolina. Hist, of 
So. Ca. uiidpr Prop. Gov. (McCrady), 373, 374, 544, 054. 

VOL. III. X 



306 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

commander in South Carolina. General Howe replied, 
stating his position and authority; but with this General 
Gadsden was not satisfied, and proposed to refer the matter 
to Congress. To this General Howe very properly replied 
that as he had no doubts respecting his own position, he 
would ex[)ress none, but that if General Gadsden desired 
it he would communicate his, Gadsden's, views to Con- 
gress. This was assented to. But Geneial Howe, it 
appears, subsequent!}^ understood that Gadsden had 
become satisfied and did not therefore make any commu- 
nication to Congress upon the subject. Meeting Howe 
some time after in the house of President Lowndes, Gads- 
den in(;[nired of him if he had written as he agreed to do, 
and upon Howe's reply in the negative, though explain- 
ing to Gadsden why he had not, Gadsden became very 
indiofuant and answered that he would have the matter 
brought before the House of Assembly. A motion was 
accordingly made in that body by William Henry Dray- 
ton to inquire into the nature of General Howe's command 
in the State. This motion was at once seconded by Raw- 
lins Lowndes and Gadsden himself, but, Howe writes, 
met with the warmest opposition from most of the leading 
men of the State. The names of these are not given, but 
it is easy to see that the matter was at once made a party 
question between Gadsden and his opponents. The 
motion after long and warm debate was lost, and there- 
upon General Gadsden resigned.^ In forwarding Gads- 
den's resignation General Howe wrote giving his account 
of the circumstances under which it was made. Dray- 
ton, who was now in the Continental Congress, sent 
Gadsden a copy of this letter of Howe's, which had 
come into his hands as a member of that body; this 
Gadsden received in the midst of the excitement over the 
1 MS. volume of Christopher (iadsdon, entitled So. Ca. ^liscellan. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 307 

proclamation business antl the riots occasioned thereby, 
but lu! at once wrote to Diajton u[)()n the subject.^ Tliis 
letter to Drayton, dated the 4lh of July, 1778, Gadsden 
intended as a public one in reply to Howe's, but Dray- 
ton not so understandiiit^ it made no effort to have it pub- 
lished among the members of Congress, and Gadsden's 
resignation was accepted without comment. At this 
(xadsden was deeply mortified, and it no doubt added to 
his bitterness in the political complications at the time at 
home. He had not supposed that immediate action Avould 
have been taken u[)ou tlie resignation, he had expected 
that he would have been allowed an opportunity to be 
heard b}' Congress. Unfortunately, as he himself writes, 
his resignation came into Congress at an unlucky time, 
when two or three other generals were threatening Con- 
gress with their resignations. Gadsden was anxious that 
Congress should know that the case was very different 
from theirs — that he had never disputed the power of 
Congress. Nay, moreover, as he could with pride and 
truth assert, "No man in America ever strove more and 
more successfully, first to bring about a Congress, in 1765, 
and then to support it ever aftenvards, than myself." He 
had resigned because the House of Assembly at home 
would not iiKpiire whether Howe ever had had a commis- 
sion from Congress. Had Howe shown such a connnission, 
he would have submitted, Avhatever he might have thought 
of Howe personally. Gadsden at the time was no doubt 
in a great state of excitement. He Avas struggling for 
power with John Rutledge and could not fail to perceive 
that in carrying the new Constitution he had achieved for 
himself a barren victory, and that in forcing Rutledge's 
resignation of the Presidency he had prepared the Avay for 

1 Letter in Laurens's MS., Promiscuous Letters, 1776-78-80, So. Ca. 
Hist. Soc. 



308 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

his own discomfiture. He was embittered, and in his 
resentment spoke very hardly of Howe, cliarging liim with 
insincerity and duplicity. This led to a duel between 
them, in which the foibles as well as the high characteris- 
tics of Gadsden were singularly exemplified. The seconds 
of both parties saw at once that a resort to the field was 
not called for, under the duelling code, and of this Gads- 
den's friends strongly advised him, assuiing him that 
Howe had made all proper concessions, and endeavored to 
persuade him to offer an apology to Howe. He admitted 
the correctness of the advice, but positively refused the 
apology. When they met, however, on the field, after 
insisting upon Howe's first firing, he fired his own pistol 
in the air, and then made the apology his friends had 
advised in the first instance. In writing to Drayton about 
the controversy over the proclamation, he had styled him- 
self Don Quixote Secundus ; he now exhibited the highest 
characteristics of that noble, if deluded, gentleman. After 
what had taken place he seems to have thought he could 
not apologize until he had given Howe satisfaction ; insist- 
ing upon receiving Howe's fire ^ he refrained from return- 
ing it, and then apologized. 

In 1777 the North Carolina troops, which had been serv- 
ing in South Carolina, had been withdrawn and sent to 
join Washington's army in the Jerseys, and we learn from 
Moultrie that in March of that year 700 of the continental 
tioops of South Carolina were serving in Georgia, leaving 
but 400 or 500 for the defence of Cliarlestown, George- 
town, and Beaufort.^ The continentals of the State, that 

1 Letter of Christopher Gadsden to William Henry Drayton, dated 
September 9, 1778, MS. volume of Christopher Gadsden, entitled So. Ca. 
MisrpJlan. The account of this duel, published in the Gazftte of Sep- 
tember ;}, 1778, was parodied in New York by the celebrated and un- 
fortunate Major Andr^. See Johnson's Traditions, 204. 

' Moultrie's Mcmuins, I'M, 217. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 309 

is the original six regiments, had by tliis time dwindled 
to but 1200 men. A whole company of 50 men, we have 
seen, had been lost in the naval expeditions in which 
they were sent as marines. There was great difficulty 
in recruiting, and in March, 1778, the General Assembly 
l)assed an act to comjjlete the quota of the troops for the 
continental service, from the provisions of which we may 
judge alike of the urgency of the occasion and of the char- 
acter of the rank and file of these regiments. The act, 
reciting the necessity that the six regiments should be 
completed without delay, thereupon provided "that all 
idle and disorderly men who have no habitation or settled 
place of abode or no visible lawful way or means of main- 
taining themselves and their families, all sturdy beggars, 
and strolling or straggling persons" be obliged to serve in 
one of the continental regiments. Justices of the Peace 
were required to apprehend and try persons charged with 
being vagrants, with the aid of six neighboring free- 
holders, and upon conviction the vagi-ants were to be 
enlisted as private soldiers in one of the regiments, and 
obliged to serve during the war. The legislators of these 
times were sportsmen as Avell as patriots, and the killing 
of game in any but a huntsman-like manner was so dis- 
reputable in their opinion as to condemn one to service in 
the war; and so it was provided by this act that all per- 
sons convicted of fire-hunting should in like manner as 
vagrants be declared duly enlisted in one of the regiments. 
To induce others, however, to enlist and associate with 
those idle and lewd persons and fire-hunters, all the lands 
in llio fork between the Tugaloo and Keowee rivers, lately 
ceded by the Indians, tliat is, tlie lands between the 
Savannah and Keowee in what is now Anderson and 
Oconee counties, were reserved for bounty lands, one 
liundred acres of which were to be given to every soldier 



310 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

who liad already enlisted or should thereafter enlist in 
either of these regiments.^ 

Colonel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, then Colonel of 
the First Regiment, impatient of inaction and desirous of 
obtaining experience in the field, had, in the fall of 1777, 
joined the army in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and had 
been immediately received into Washington's military 
famil}', appointed aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-chief; 
and in that capacity he had been present at the battles of 
Brandywine and Germantown, where by his intelligence, 
zeal, and activity he had won Washington's confidence; 
but immediately upon the approach of danger to the 
South had returned and resumed command of his regi- 
ment. John Laurens, son of Henr}^ Laurens, President 
of Congress, was also one of Washington's aides, and 
had distinguished himself at Germantown and Mon- 
mouth, and was wounded in the former battle. He had 
fought a duel with, and wounded, General Lee for disre- 
spectful language in regard to Washington, had estab- 
lished a character for intrepidity, and had gained the 
affections and confidence of the Commander-in-chief. 
He also hastened to his native State upon the threat 
of danger in this quarter. 

It was indeed impossible for Washington to send assist- 
ance to South Carolina. On the 8th of May, 1779, he 
writes to Gouverneur Morris that his arnw was little more 
than a skeleton, and he goes on to sa}', " Whenever I 
endeavor to draw together the continental troops for the 
most essential purposes, I am embarrassed with complaints 
of exhausted, defenceless situations in particular States, 
and find myself obliged either to resist solicitations made 
with such a degree of emphasis as scarcely to leave a 
choice, or to sacrifice the most obvious principles of mili- 

1 Statutes nf So. Ca., vol. IV, 410. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 311 

tury prosperity and risk the general safety."^ It was 
(lonhtless the appeal from South Carolina for reiinforce- 
ments to which Washington thus alluded, and while his 
policy as to the conduct of the war as a whole in all the 
thirteen colonies was, we again admit, beyond question 
wise, and his military views clearly correct, yet all the 
same the fact remained to the people of South Carolina 
that they were beyond the pale of the general safety, and 
tiiat the principles of military expediency required them 
to be left, in a great measure, to shift for themselves. 
The belief that South Carolina and Georgia were to be 
abandoned by Congress from this time took deep possession 
of the public mind and pervaded all ranks and classes, and 
influenced the conduct of many.^ The people recollected 
that they had sent without hesitation a large part of the 
powder the}' had seized in 1775 to assist in maintaining 
the siege of Boston. They had lavishl}' contributed to 
the common expense. The continental troops of Virginia 
and North Carolina were almost all serving with the 
Northern army, and those of this State and Georgia had 
been wasted and frittered away in the swamps of Georgia 
and Florida upon useless expeditions, in sickly seasons, 
against the advice and protests of the South Carolina 
officers ; and now that the State was invaded and a per- 
sistent effort was being made to subjugate it, the South 
Carolinians were told that they were too far away to be 
protected by Congress. There was great discontent. The 
people were divided as to the cause of the war, and the 
declaration and assertion of independence of England had 
been against the sentiments and wishes of many who had 

' Washington's Writiiiffs, vol. VI, 251. 

- Garden's Anecdotes, 18U, quoting John Mathews ; letter of John 
RutliMlge, May 24, 1780, unpublished Btvolutionary Papers; JiusseWs 
Magazine, September, 18o7, o:J7. 



312 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

originally favored the Revolution. The number of the 
Revolutionists had again been diminished by the concilia- 
tory acts of Great Britain, and now Congress was unable 
to send succor in the time of need. 

The net result of South Carolina's appeals to Congress 
for assistance consisted of a French engineer, Colonel 
Laumo}',^ Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, and General 
Count Pulaski, with the remnant of his nondescript corps, 
which had been cut to pieces at Little Egg Harbor in the 
fall before, and which now consisted of but one hun- 
dred and twenty men, lancers and infantry, called by 
courtesy a legion. ^ Pulaski came with a reputation for 
heroism and military ability, notwithstanding his sur- 
prise and disaster on the October before. The heroism 
he here abundantly displayed, and sacrificed his life for 
the strangers amongst whom he had come and for the 
cause he had espoused, but the military ability he did 
not exhibit. 

Colonel Laurens, hastening to his native State in the 
hour of her need, was the most valuable acquisition that 
South Carolina received. He brought with him a resolu- 
tion of Congress of the 5th of November, 1778.^ 

" That John Laurens, Esquire, aide-de-camp to General Washington, 
be presented with a Continental Commission of Lieutenant Colonel 
in testimony of the sense which Congress entertain of his patriotic 
and spirited services as a volunteer in the American Army; and of 
his brave conduct in several actions, particularly in that of Rliode 
Lsland on the 29th of August last, and that General Washington be 
directed whenever an opportunity shall offer to give Lieutenant 
Colonel Laurens command agreeable to liis rank." 

1 Mons. de Laumoy (France), Colonel Engineers, November 17, 1777 ; 
wounded at Stono Fen-y, June 20, 1770 ; brevet Brigadier General, Sep- 
tember 30, 1783 ; retired October 10, 1783 (Heitman). 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 423. 

* Ramsay's Hist, of Su. Ca., vol. II, 497. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 313 

From tlie highest and most honorable motives Colonel 
Laurens had declined this commission ; he conld not accept 
it, he wrote, without injury to the rights of officers of the 
line and to his colleagues in the family of the Commander- 
in-chief, over whom he would thus be promoted. He had, 
however, later, — to wit, on the 29th of March, 1779, — 
been promoted in the regular order to the same rank; 
and with his commission he brought also a letter from 
Washington himself to Governor Rutledge, telling that 
he had served in tlie General's family as aide-de-camp 
in two campaigns, of the General's particular friend- 
shi[) for tlie young officer, and of the high opinion he 
entertained of his talents and merit. But instead of 
bringing troops Colonel Laurens brought the advice 
of Congress, that as many of the citizens of South 
Carolina must remain at home to prevent revolts among 
tlie negroes, or their desertion to the enemy, that 
South Carolina and Georgia should arm three thousand 
of the most vigorous and enterprising of them under 
white officers. This Avas Alexander Hamilton's recom- 
mendation, and it was ajiproved by Henr}^ Laurens, — 
(""olonel Laurens's father, — who wrote to Washing- 
ton, " Had we arms for three thousand such black 
men as I could select in South Carolina, I should have 
no doubt of driving the British out of Georgia and 
subduing East Florida before the end of July." Wash- 
ington's answer to this was conclusive: "Should we begin 
to form battalions of them, I have not the smallest doubt " 
the British would "follow us in it and justify the measure 
upon our own ground. The contest then must be. Who 
can arm fastest? And where are our arms?" . The 
absurdity of a people achieving their liberty and inde- 
pendence by means of the valor of their slaves does not 
seem to have occurred to the Congressmen. The propo- 



314 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

sition was heard in South Carolina witli indignation and 
rejected with scorn. ^ 

The Revolutionists in Nortli Carolina fully recognized 
the fact that it was wise, as well as generous, to furnish 
assistance to their neighhoriug State. It was better for 
them to send troops to fight the British in South Carolina, 
and thus keep the seat of war there, than allow it to be 
transferred to their own soil. Early in 1779 Governor 
Caswell, in response to an appeal from South Carolina, 
called out three thousand militia, and conferred the com- 
mand on Major General John Ashe of New Hanover. 
These troops Avere from Wilmington, Newbern, Edenton, 
and Halifax districts. The State of North Carolina, 
however, had no arms, and sent these men forward on 
the expectation that they would be armed in South Caro- 
lina; but so scarce were arms that only the most inferior 
patterns could be furnished. All but one of the con- 
tinental battalions from North Carolina were now with 
Washington ; but this one Avas also sent to South Caro- 
lina. Well might Charles Pinckney write, on the 24th 
of February, 1779:2 — 

"As to further aid from North Carolina they have agreed to send 
us 2000 more troops immediately. We have now upwards of 3000 of 
their men with us, and I esteem this last augmentation as the highest 
possible mark of their affection for us and as tiio most convincing 
2>ro()f of their zeal for the glorious cause in wliie'li they are engaged. 
The}' have been so willing and ready on all occasions to afford us all 
the assistance in their power, that 1 shall ever love a Xorth Carolinian, 
and join with General IMoultrie in confessing that they have been the 
salvation of this country." 

' Bancroft, vol. V, 370. Some black dragoons were organized by tlie 
Britisli in the last year of the war, and appeared in the field, as we shall 
see, upon one or two occasions. 

- GovenKU-Graliani's lecture, Xo. Ca. Unirrrsily Magazine, Ai>r\\, 1878, 
quoted in North Carolina, 17S0-S1, David Schenck, LL.D., 35. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 315 

But wliile Governor Caswell was doing all he could for 
tlie assistance of South Carolina, a curious episode, indica- 
tive of the s[)irit of the times, occurred between the dele- 
nates in Congress of the two States. Notwithstanding 
the con(iuest of Georgia and the threatened invasion of 
South Carolina, Congress was amusing itself with the 
negotiation of a treaty with the French envoy as to the 
ultimate terms upon which only the United States would 
make peace with Great Britain ; and New England, not 
content with the independence which she believed, through 
the aid of the French, would now be secured, put in a 
demand that peace should not be made unless the common 
right of the United States to fish 6n the coasts, bays, and 
banks of Nova Scotia, the banks of Newfoundland, the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, the straits of Labrador, and Belle 
Lsland should be recognized;^ and on this question it 
a[)pe;us that Henry Laurens had supported the demand of 
New Engkind, William Henry Drayton, the other dele- 
gate from South Carolina present in Congress, opposing 
it. Thereupon, on the 2d of April, 1779, the delegates 
from North Carolina — John Penn, Whitmell Hill, and 
Thomas Burke — wrote to Henry Laurens and William 
Henry Drayton as delegates from South Carolina, protest- 
ing against Mr. Laurens's course. 

'• Considering," they wrote, " that a Question now before Congress 
involves tlie continuance of hostilities, even tho' our Liberty sov- 
ereignty & Independence, absolute and unlimited, as well in matters 
of (Jovernnient as Commerce, shall be acknowledged & secured, unless 
Great Britain will, acknowledging a right of fishing on all Banks 
& Coasts of Xorth America which were exclusively reserved to Britain 
by tlie Treaties of Utrecht & Paris, as fully as the Inhabitants of the 
Couiilries now composing the United States of Xorth America en- 
joyed when subjects of Great Britain ; — a right which we deem more 

1 Bancroft, vol. V, .320, 



316 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

extensive than can with justice be insisted on, & which our Allies 
by their engagements are not bound to assist us in contending for, & 
which the Minister plenipotentiary of France assures us his Court 
cannot agree to continue this War for. Considering also that in a 
late Vote upon the Question alluded to, I\Ir. Laurens one of the Dele- 
gates from your State gave his Voice for continuing hostilities for 
the aforesaid object, even tho' our Allies should be not in a condition to 
assist us from which we infer, that he relies on a degree of strength 
& resources in your state which is unknown to us, or on a mistaken 
Idea of the strength & resources of North Carolina. . . . We esteem 
it our duty to inform you that in case of the continuance of the War for 
the aforesaid object North Carolina is not in a condition to make any 
exertions for the defence of South Carolina, nor do we believe she will 
be inclined to make any." 

Enclosed in this paper was the copy of a communication 
which Messrs. Penn, Hill, and Burke informed Messrs. 
Laurens and Drayton they proposed to send to the Gov- 
ernor of North Carolina. The letter goes over the same 
ground. It says that although Congress a few days before 
had passed several resolutions stating the situation of 
South Carolina and Georgia to be such that they M^ere 
incapable of au}^ adequate efforts for their own defence, 
and recommending Virginia and North Carolina to make 
every effort to raise forces for their assistance, and that 
although it was clear that no succors could be sent to 
them from the main army or any other States, and tliat 
although North Carolina had been from the very begin- 
ning of the war harassed with efforts for, her Southern 
neighbors under the idea that they were too weak for 
their own defence, yet that a late vote in Congress had 
inclined them to believe that they liad been ver}' much 
mistaken, that from Mr. Laurens's vote they were now 
driven to the conclusion that Mr. Laurens's State was so 
strong and powerful in resources unknown to them that 
he was able to defy all those difliculties which arise from 
deranged and almost annihilated linances, ruined com- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 317 

merce, want of manufactures, obstructed agriculture, 
wasted forces, and slaughtered fellow-citizens; from 
want of men, arms, ammunition, provisions, equipment, — 
dilliculties which appeared to them almost ready to over- 
whelm the exhausted country. After much more of this 
sarcasm the letter concluded with the suggestion that 
any further exertion on the part of North Carolina might 
he dispensed M'ith, and the expression of the hope that 
her militia might return home as soon as possible, and that 
no more battalions should be raised in the State for the 
purpose of being sent to South Carolina. 

To the North Carolina delegates, aware of the appeals 
which were constantly coming from their sister State, and 
no doubt fully realizing the danger to their own if South 
Carolina should be overrun, it must have been provoking 
indeed to find Laurens sustaining the New Englanders in 
their extravagant demand, and voting with them to make 
England's compliance wath it a condition of peace. But 
it was alike ungenerous and unwise to permit that resent- 
ment to carry them to this extent. To withdraw their 
troops from Laurens's State was simply to invite the 
invasion of their own. 

Unfortunately for South Carolina her two attending 
delegates in Congress at the time were on unfriendly 
terms, and this unhappy personal relation was carried 
into their official intercourse to such an extent as to excite 
comment and observation. Mr. Drayton being asked by 
Mr. Adams how it happened that he always voted counter 
to Colonel Laurens, replied: "We vote systematically. 
As I always vote first, and could not possibly determine 
on which side he would give his voice, the system must 
have been confined to himself." With these relations 
existing between them Colonel Laurens believed, and said 
as much, that his colleague was concerned in procuring 



318 HISTOKV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

these letters in order to injure him. He writes to Mr. 
Draj'ton, sending him " tlic letter " and the address to the 
Governor of North Carolina, "You had some knowledge 
of these letters hefore we read them yesterday morning, 
therefore I request you will honor me with an explicit 
reply and candid opinion on the propriety of the measure 
which North Carolina has adopted on the occasion: if 
you, sir, approve of their proceeding, 1 shall be glad of a 
conference with you on the important subjects alluded to." 
Mr. Drayton, in his reply, does not deny his previous con- 
nection with the letter, but declines "giving an opinion 
which there is no necessity (he) should hazard," and adds 
that he had answered on his part the official memorial, 
ardently requesting that the delegates "of North Carolina 
would not send their intended letter to their Governor, 
and assuring them that South Carolina when attacked as 
she now is absolutely stands in need of the sisterly aid of 
North Carolina, and that in a powerful degree." Mr. 
Laurens replies to this very angrily. He writes: "You 
have declined giving an opinion or holding a conference, 
which evinces that you not only ' vote ' but act ' sys- 
tematically ' ; here you have drawn a line between us, 
henceforth I Avill neither receive from you nor trouble 
you with a letter of controversy, but I will never with- 
hold my voice in confirmation of any motion of yours in 
Congress, nor my utmost support to your measures out of 
doors, where we may be jointly concerned, which shnll 
appear to be conducive to public good. ..." He 
continues : — 

" Did the measures adopted by the Gentlemen of North Carolina 
point, in your view, Sir, to no higher an object than aid to a sister 
State, which it is neither in their power to direct or restrain ? Were 
you less affected by an attempt of violence upon the suffrages of free 
Citizens as well as upon the honor of all these Independent States, than 



IX THE REVOLUTION 319 

you were by grouiuUess appreliensions of temporary evils to your own ? 
Do you think Sir, tliat ytmr ardent requests can lull the Resolutions of 
those (Jentieinen or warp their inclinations from the pursuit of a duty 
whicii Iht'V hold indispeiisahly necessary? Did not you feel a little 
for the breach of plighted faith and honor to keep secret deliberation 
upon a point, the disclosure of which may dash our infant Indepen- 
dence against the Stones? Or did you think me blind? Think, 
speak, and act Sir as you shall judge most convenient. I shall per- 
severe in acting in all respects with propriety towards you, with dili- 
gence and Hdclity in the cunimon Cause of America, and with all the 
most inviolable attachment to that State whose particular Servant I 
am." ' 

To the Governor of North Carolina Mr. Laurens writes 
a long letter, in which he charges that the whole matter 
was of a plan long settled to "hunt nie down." It is not 
known whether the letters of the delegates were actually 
sent to the Governor of North Carolina. It is probable 
that they were not, as letters of explanation passed after- 
ward between Mr. Laurens and Messrs. Penn, Hill, and 
Burke, While this controversy between the delegates in 
Congress was going on, Prdvost was in Georgia preparing 
for his invasion of South Carolina. 

Hanisay the historian states that before the General 
Assembly, which elected John Rutledge, adjourned, they 
hid delegated to him and to his Council power "to do 
cvt-rylhing that appeared to him and to them necessary for 
I lie [)ublic good. "2 

This was following the precedent which had been 
adopted in 17To when, upon an adjournment of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, William Henry Drayton, with two others, 
Charles Pinckney and Thomas Heyward, Jr., were author- 
ized to order whatever they should think necessary for 

> Laurens's MS., rromiscitous Letters, 1778-80, So. Ca. Hist. Soc. 
" Ramsay's Jievolutiou, vol. II, 10. There are no journals of the 
General Assembly of this time. 



320 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the public safety until the meeting of Congress the next 
clay; and as had been done in 1770 when, after adopting 
the Constitution, the Congress adjourned, ""leaving the 
administration of the government to the President (John 
Rutledge) and Privy Council." ^ Still larger powers were 
yet to be conferred upon John Rutledge in the supreme 
emergency of the struggle. For the- present under these 
he proceeded with great vigor — a vigor that ran at times 
counter to the wishes and designs of the continental 
officers, who considered themselves in absolute and exclu- 
sive control of all military movements. He assembled all 
the militia he could collect and established a permanent 
camp at Orangeburgh, as a central point from Charlestown 
and Augusta. 

^ Memoirs of the Revolution (Drayton), vol. II, 253. 



CHAPTER XV 

1778-1779 

South Carolina was now to be the theatre of the war 
until the close of the struggle for independence. For 
four j-ears she was to be rent and torn and trampled as 
no other State in the Union. The })loughers were to plough 
upon her back and make long their furrows. Her people 
were to fall by the SAvord, and to be consumed b}^ the fire ; 
they were to be oppressed not only by the stranger, but 
every one by another, every one by his neighbor. And all 
this in a cause in which she had not willingly embarked ; 
the unequal burden of which her wise men had foreseen, 
and from the calamities of which they had endeavored to 
save her ; but through which sufferings in the providence 
of God the common foe was to be retained upon her soil 
until the nations of Europe should interpose and end the 
Avar, thus securing through her blood and treasure the 
lil)erty and independence of the thirteen States. Left 
mainly to her own resources, says Bancroft, it was through 
the depths of wretchedness that her sons were to bring 
hor back to her place in the republic, after suffering more 
and daring more and achieving more than the men of any 
other State. 1 

After the disastrous expedition of General Lee against 
Florida, in 1776, the British had erected a fort at St. 
Mary's River, from which they frequentl}^ raided the 
southern parts of Georgia. To put an end to this Gen- 

1 Hist, of the U. S., vol. V, 375. 
VOL. 111. — y 321 



322 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAMOLINA 

eral Howe unfortunately resumed the invasion in 1778, 
and conducted it with no better success than had Lee. 
The troops whicli he took with him on the expedition were 
six hundred South Carolina continentals under Colonel 
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, five hundred (ieorgia con- 
tinentals under Colonel Samuel Elbert of (ieorgia, and 
a considerable body of militia drawn from botli States. 
That from CJeorgia was commanded l)y (Governor Houston 
in person. The South Carolina militia were under Colo- 
nels Andrew Williamson and Stephen Bull. The route 
of the expedition lay through a country so barren that 
not a berry was to be found, nor a bud to be seen. No 
opposition of consequence from the eneni}" was met until 
the expedition reached Fort Tonyn. Indeed, it is not 
improbable that Ceneral Prevost who commanded in 
Florida was content to allow the season and climate to 
fight for him. And, as it was in Lee's invasion, the Eng- 
lish could have had no better ally. A malarial region, 
intense heat, bad water, insufficient shelter, and salt meat 
so impaired the health of Howe's troops that the hospi- 
tal returns showed one-half the men upon the sick list. 
Through lack of forage horses perished, and those which 
remained were so enfeebled that they were int-apable of 
transporting the artillery and wagons. The soldiers were 
dispirited and distracted. The command was rent by 
factions, and Howe proved incompetent to deal with its 
discordant element. The same question which Gadsden 
had raised with Howe in Charlestown was now made 
in the midst of the expedition by Governor Houston 
and Colonel Williamson. Governor Houston refused to 
receive orders from Howe, and Williamson would not 
yield obedience to a conliiicntal officer.^ The only trooi)S 
upon which Howe coidd rely were the continental detach- 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 230. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 323 

ments iiiuU'r Colonels Pinckney and Elbert. A council 
(»!:' war was called, and it ordered a retreat, but not before 
the little army had sustained a loss of upward of five 
hundred men ^ and more than half the six hundred South 
Carolina regular troops were in their graves or in the 
lu>s})itals.^ 

There was, however, a brilliant episode to this unfortu- 
nate affair. Colonel Elbert, learning tliat several of the 
enemy's vessels, the brigantine Hinchenhrook, the sloop 
Rebecca^ and a prize brig, were lying at Frederica, detailed 
three hundred men and a detachment of artillerists with 
two field-pieces, of which he took command in person. 
Putting them on board of three galleys, he embarked at 
Darien and effected a landing a mile below the town, 
to which he immediately sent a detachment which seized 
some marines and sailors of tlie Hinchenhrook, and the 
next morning with the three little galleys boldly attacked 
the British ships drawn up in order of battle, and cap- 
tured them without the loss of a man. Colonel Pinckney 
wi'ote General Moultrie that, notwithstanding the reflec- 
tions cast on the i)r()priety of Howe's expedition at that 
season, it was incontrovertible that with the capture of 
the HitK'henhrook and the other vessels it had proved the 
salvation of the State of Georgia. But if so, its salvation 
was but for a short period. The expedition which sailed 
from New York under Colonel Campbell and Provost's 
army from Florida were to find no force to oppose them, 
and (.Jeorgia was soon to be in complete possession of the 
British troops. 

Prevost had wisely allowed Howie's expedition to ex- 
haust itself, and as it drew back its weak, sickly, and 

' Life and Services of General Samuel Elbert, Charles C. Jones, Jr., 
21 ; Ramsay's Bevolutinii, vol. I, 152. 

'^ Letter of Major Tliomas Pinckney, Johnson's Traditions, 89. 



324 HISTORY OF SOUTH. CAROLINA 

discordant parts it left the whole country open to his 
movements in cooperation with the expedition from New 
York. For this purpose Prevost was instructed to invade 
Georgia from tiie south, and having captured Sunbury — 
a seaport of considerable wealth and importance — he was 
to move upon Savannah. In pursuance of this plan 
two detachments were sent forward by Provost, — one 
by sea, conducted by Lieutenant Colonel Fuser, to reduce 
Sunbury, and the other penetrating by land to devastate 
the lower portion of Georgia. The two detachments were 
to form a junction at Sunbury. The first party reached 
Sunbury and demanded its surrender, but Lieutenant 
Colonel Lachlan McLitosh in reply simply said, "• Come 
and take it." LTpon which the party retired to a neigh- 
boring island. The other party pursued their march, 
opposed only by a hundred militia under General Screven, 
who skirmished with them as they advanced. In one of 
these engagements General Screven was Avounded and fell 
from his horse, when he was brutally murdered, in retalia- 
tion, it was said, for the manner in which one Caj)tain 
i\[oore, of Brown's Rangers, had been killed. The invaders 
pursued their march until they were witliin three miles of 
Ogeechee Ferry, where they were met by Colonel Elbert 
with about two liundred continentals, in works erected 
by Mr. Savage with his own slaves, prei)ared to dispute 
their passage. This party, like that which had reached 
Sunbury, immediately retreated Avhen opposed. Prevost 
and Fuser, failing to effect a junction, abandoned the 
siege of Sunbury, and, retreating upon Florida, did not 
unite with Cami)bell in his attack upon Savannah. Lut 
in their retreat they laid waste the country for many 
miles, burnt St. John's Church, a number of dwelling 
liouses, and all tlic rice and other grain within their 
reach, and carried off with tliem all the negroes, horses. 



IN THK KEVULITION 325 

cattle, and plate that could be removed either by land or 
water. ^ 

Hanisay says it is impossible to tell whether this burn- 
iufif, plundering incursion introductory to a serious plan 
of operations advanced or impeded the British designs. 
It certainly alarmed the feai's of some ; but on others it 
l)roduced quite the contrar}- effect. The indignation of 
the latter was roused, and they were stimulated to do and 
suffer everything rather than submit to such conquerors. 
Tlu're is little question that it was just such conduct as 
this which ultimately defeated the British. This was 
the exi)erience in New Jersey the year before. The 
proclamations and the printed protections of the British 
commanders, on the faith of which the inhabitants in gen- 
eral had stayed at home and had forborne to take up arms, 
had proved of no avail. The Hessians could not or would 
not understand them, but plundered friend and foe alike. 
The British soldiery often followed their example, and the 
plunderings of both were at times attended by the most 
brutal outrages on the weaker sex, which inflamed the 
dullest spirits to revenge. The Jerseys were thus aroused 
against the invaders. In Washington's retreat of more 
than a hundred miles through the State he had not been 
joined by more than a hundred of its inhabitants, but when 
after Princeton the British retreated, sufferers on both 
sides arose as one man to avenge their personal injuries.^ 
The same was to be the experience in South Carolina. 

riiese movements on the part of Prdvost greatly alarmed 
Howe, as well they might, in view of the weakness of his 
(•(tmmand aiul its distance from any reenforcements. lie 
writes^ on the 27th of November, in great urgency to 
Moultrie at Charlestown to hasten up the troops under 

1 Ramsay's Jit'vulution, vol. II, 3. 

2 Irviug's Life of Waskingtun, vol. Ill, 3. 



326 HISTOUY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the command of Isaac Huger, lately made Brigadier Gen- 
eral.^ " Let them march with all possible expedition," 
he writes ; " baggage at this time is not to be considered, 
and provisions may be had at every house — let the men 
force on, and if some cannot march with the rest, let them 
proceed without the least delay, as this attempt upon 
Georgia is indeed a serious one." Moultrie replies on the 
28th that he has sent an express to Huger to expedite 
his march, leaving his baggage and weak men behind him ; 
that he will send Colonel Henderson's battalion off to- 
morrow ; that Thomson's regiment, not far from him, 
is taking the shortest route to Purrysburg, and that the 
President, Rawlins Lowndes, has given the Quartermaster 
General a power to impress what wagons may be wanted 
for the expedition. Prdvost, liowever, fell back to Florida, 
and Howe had a month's respite ; but the delay brought 
him no accession of strength. 

On the 27th of December, 1778, the fleet from New- 
York, which transported the expedition against Georgia, 
arrived off the mouth of the Savannah, crossed the bar, 
and lay at anchor within it.^ The troops which composed 
the invading force were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel 
Archibald Campbell, and well for the British cause would 

1 Colonel Isaac Huger, of the Fifth Keghnent, South Carolina Con- 
tinentals (riflemen), was promoted Brigadier General, January 9, 1777. 
Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 14G. 

2 The expedition consisted of the Seventy-first Regiment, — two bat- 
talions of Hessians, four battalions of North and South Carolina provin- 
cials in the British service, New York volunteers, and a detachment of 
royal artillery, amounting in all to three thousand men. The Seventy- 
first Regiment (Scotch) from this time is found in almost every battle 
fought in South Carolina or Georgia, until it was cut to pieces at 
Cowpens on the 17th of January, 1781. The North Carolina regiment 
was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Hamilton ; the South Caro- 
lina regiment by Colonel Alexander Innes, wlio iiad been Secretary to 
Lord William Campbell, (lovernor of South Carolina. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 327 

iL have been had he been given a commensurate rank and 
intrusted with the entire command in the Southern prov- 
inces. His brilliant conduct in defeating Howe and secur- 
ing Savannah, as we shall presently see, demonstrated his 
military fitness for such a commandj while his nice sense 
of honor and noble conduct endeared him to the people 
whom he was sent to overawe. The friends of indepen- 
dence, it was said, had everything to fear from his wisdom 
and humanity, but their alarm on this account was of short 
duration. Smaller men with a narrower policy w'ere to 
be intrusted with a work which could have been accom- 
plished only by one of his abilities and character. ^ The 
luival force of the expedition was commanded by Commo- 
dore Hyde Parker. Major General Provost with his troops 
from Florida was ordered to join the expedition and take 
command of the whole ; but, as we shall see, so ably did 
Colonel Campbell form his plans upon reaching the Savan- 
nah, and so well was he supported by the cordial coopera- 
tion of Commodore Parker and the naval forces, that the 
reduction of the province was practically completed before 
that General's arrival. 

The morning after its arrival, the 28th, the fleet pro- 
ceeded up the river, and on the morning of the 29th the 
debarkation of the troops began. At daybreak the light 
infantry, the New York volunteers, and the first battalion 
of the Seventy-first Regiment effected a landing in front of 
(tirardeau's plantation. From this landing-place a nar- 
row causeway, with a ditch on each side, led through a rice- 
Held to the high ground beyond. Captain Cameron of the 
Seventy-first, having first reached the shore with his com- 
pany of light infantry, immediately formed them and ad- 
vanced. At the end of the causeway these were met with 
a general discharge of musketry, by which this ofiicer was 
' Garden'.s Anecdotes, 277. 



328 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

killed with two of his company, and several were wounded ; 
but the impetuosity of the Highlanders cleared the ground 
of the party defending it. Whilst the rest of the troops 
were landing Colonel Campbell reconnoitred the position 
of Howe's army and determined to attack him before the 
evening. 1 With the decision and energy of his character, 
it is not surprising that he should have done so, for 
Howe had but six or seven hundred men, and some of 
them very raw troops, with wdiicli to meet him.^ Howe 
had called a council of war to determine whether he should 
retreat, or remain and defend the town, and contrary to 
the received maxim that a council of Avar never fights, it 
was resolved to remain and resist. Determined to fight, 
the ground for the battle was well chosen, and but for an 
oversight would have enabled him to have made a stout 
resistance with even his small command, and possibly to 
have held out until General Lincoln reached him, who, he 
had certain information, was marching to his assistance. 
At a short distance in his front, and extending parallel 
to it, was a lagoon through which crossed the road approach- 
ing his position. The bridge over the stream running 
through the lagoon was destroyed to retard the enemy's 
advance. Howe's right Avas covered by a morass thick set 
with woods, and interspersed with some houses occupied 
by riflemen ; his left rested on the swamps of the river, 
and his rear rested upon the town and some old works on 
the Savannah.^ The little band was divided into two wings. 
General Huger commanding the right wing and Colonel 
Elbert the left. Thus posted, Howe awaited the attack, 
and had it been made only in front, it would, no doubt, 
have been obstinately disputed. But while Howe had been 

1 Steaihnan's Am. War, vol. II, 09. 

2 Moultrie's 3I<'moiri>, 252, 2');>. 

3 Mi'moirs of the War of 1776 (Lcc), 119. 



IX THK KE VOLUTION 829 

stationed for some time on this very ground, having had 
his liea(h[U;vrtt.'rs in Savannah, and C'ani[)l)ell had only been 
in the neighborhood twenty-four hours, Campl^ell liad, in 
tliat short time, discovered a path through the morass 
which Howe deemed impassabk". Detaching the light 
infantry under Sir James liaird, supported by the New 
York volunteers, by this path through the swamp he 
gained the rear of the American troops. Engaging 
Howe's attention in the front with a feint, he waited 
until Sir James Baird, under the guidance of a negro, 
suddenly issued from the swamp and attacked the body of 
militia which was posted to secure the road leading from 
Ogeechee. Hitlierto the IJritish troops in front had re- 
mained quiet uj)on their ground without firing a gun in 
return to Howe's artillery, but as soon as the light infan- 
try had turned his flank, the whole British line advanced. 
Assailed in front, the Americans gave way, and, retreating, 
ran across Sir James Baird's party, and the battle was 
over in a few minutes. The defeat was instantaneous 
and decisiv'e. Howe was pursued through Savannah, and 
with a small part of his little army escaped into South 
Carolina, losing before night five hundred and fifty men 
killed and taken, with his artillery and baggage. 

Seldom was so decisive a victory gained with so little 
loss, amounting only to seven killed and nineteen wounded. 
Its results were commensurably great. Georgia was se- 
cured to the British control for the rest of the war. 
The lower part of the province was entirely at peace in 
less than ten days after the defeat of the Americans. A 
great number of the inhabitants came in, and, having taken 
the oath of allegiance, submitted themselves again to the 
authority of the mother country. Rifle companies and 
dragoons were formed out of those who came in to renew 
their allegiance, and these were employed to patrol the 



330 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

country and give information of the movements of their 
fellow-countrymen. 

South Carolina was now a frontier State, with the enemy 
firmly planted upon her flank. 

The conduct of Howe in the expedition to Florida had 
given great dissatisfaction. His removal from the com- 
mand of the Southern department had been asked by the 
delegates in Congress from South Carolina and Georgia 
before his disastrous defeat at Savannah; and by a resolve 
of the Continental Congress September 26, 1778, General 
Benjamin Lincoln of Massachusetts, who had been second 
in command to Gates at Saratoga, was ordered to take 
command in the Department of the South and to repair 
immediately to Charlestown. We have seen what great 
results had followed the capture of Burgoyne. But 
Schuyler \vas to be avenged. The laurels which he had 
prepared for himself at Saratoga had been snatched from 
him by Gates. Both Gates and his second in command, 
Lincoln, were upon the strength of that victory to be sent 
to the South, where their real military abilities were to be 
tested, and both of them were to fail. Lincoln was first 
tried. 

It happened that General Lincoln arrived in his new 
department simultaneously with the arrival of the British 
expedition against it, and he was hurrying to the scene of 
action when Howe's unfortunate battle took place. He 
found, on his arrival, a department, but no army to com- 
mand. The South Carolina regulars had been reduced 
by this time to about 1000 men. Something less than 
500 were in garrison at Cliarlestown, and Huger had 
about that number with him near Purrysburg.^ There 
were left but 150 Georgia continentals under Colonel 
Elbert.2 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 258. 2 /;,;(7., 270. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 331 

Upon learninpf of the intention of the British to invade 
the Southern .States, President Lowndes, in order to keep 
as great a foree as possible in the country, had hiid a gen- 
eral embargo and prohil)ited the sailing of vessels from 
any port of the State. This was repeated for two succes- 
sive periods of thirty days each. He also ordered the 
owners of cattle, sheep, and hogs on the sea islands and 
other points immediately ex})osed to the incursions of the 
enemy to remove them so as to prevent the British forces 
from making use of them. He appointed Richard Rich- 
ardson, Stephen Hull, and Andrew Williamson, each of 
wliom had already commanded in the field, Brigadier 
Generals, and drafted a large portion of the militia, which 
he put under the command of Richardson. But this force 
turned out to be a very unruly body. The militia laws 
were very lax and defective, and popular sentiment too 
much divided to supply the want of a more vigorous sys- 
tem. The men thus called into the field, grown up in 
habits of freedom and independence, impatiently submitted 
to military discipline. When ordered out they would 
demand, '' Where they were going?" and '• How long they 
were to stay?" ^ Then there was still the open question 
as to the authority of the continental officers over the 
militia. 

Apprised of the proposed invasion of Georgia, the 
North Carolina Provincial Congress wisely determined, 
as we have seen, to send aid at once to the threatened 
point, and thus by assisting her sister States to preserve 
her own territory from the enemy. 

These troops of North Carolina under Generals Ashe 

and Rutherford, but without armi, had responded so 

promptly that had it not been for the delay of ten days 

near Charlestown before they were furnished with arms, 

1 Ramsay's litvulution, vol. II, 12. 



8:32 msTOKY of south Carolina 

they would have been in time to join General Howe before 
the reduction of Savannah. But while the British were in 
the ofifing, and it was uncertain whether Georgia or South 
Carolina was the object, President Lowndes hesitated to 
distribute the scanty supply of arms South Carolina had 
secured till the designs of the British were developed. ^ 
And well might he do so, for these North Carolina troops 
thus hurriedly raised were no better disciplined than our 
own. Indeed, Moultrie writes that in this respect the 
North Carolina continentals themselves were as bad.^ 

On the 27tli of December Moultrie marched from Charles- 
town with North and South Carolina troops amounting 
to about twelve hundred men and arrived at Purrysburg 
January 3, 1779. General Howe was relieved of command 
and ordered to join the army under Washington, in which 
he served with honor for the rest of the war. The rem- 
nants of Howe's army joined Lincoln at Purrysburg. The 
continentals were stationed there and the North Carolini- 
ans about two miles off.^ Here, also, Lincoln was joined 
by Richardson, but the latter could scarcely prevail upon 
the men to stay until relief arrived.* Four or five hundred 
more North Carolinians came in by the 14th. But the 
whole force did not exceed twenty-five hundred men in 
camp.^ 

1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 9. 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 270. 

8 Ibid, 2G4. * Ibid, 265. « Ibid, 265. 



CHAPTER XVI 

1779 

A CORRESPONDENCE which took place between General 
Moultrie and Colonel Charles Pinckney, then President of 
the Senate of South Carolina, gives us an insight into the 
condition of affairs at that time, which was indeed deplor- 
able. The relation between the Continental Congress and 
the States was undefined and uncertain, and hence the 
authority of the action of Congress and of its officers was 
a matter of question. Militia drawn from a divided peo- 
ple necessarily included men of all shades of political 
opinion, and consequently many who were opposed to 
the State government under which they were called out 
and enlisted. There was dissension among the officers 
and mutiny among the men. A flagrant instance of 
breach of discipline brought about a crisis. One of 
Colonel Kershaw's men upon guard having deserted his 
post, and beliaved with insolence to his Captain, upon 
being arrested seized a gun and threatened the life of 
the officer, and was indeed only prevented from killing 
him by being overpowered by the guard. And now 
comes, as General Moultrie writes, the grand affair. The 
case was one of mutin}', punishable by all military law 
with death. Colonel Kershaw so regarded it and applied 
to General Lincoln for a court-martial to try the offender. 
The court was accordingly ordered, of which General 
Richardson was appointed President, with other officers 
of tlie militia as members. But when tlie court met the 

333 



334 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

militia officers refused to take the oath prescribed in arti- 
cles of war by the Continental Congress, taking the posi- 
tion that militiamen were not amenable to any but the 
militia law of the State. Seven of the members of the 
court refusing to qualify, the matter was reported to 
General Lincoln, who was much surprised. He insisted 
that as the militia were in continental pay, they must be 
subject to continental discii)line. This did not neces- 
sarily follow, but Lincoln was on strong ground when he 
determined that if not svibject to his discii)line, they were 
not under his command, and might go off when they 
pleased, as he would furnish them with no more provision. 
The correspondence shows that Moultrie and Pinckney 
agreed with the position taken by the militia officers that 
the continental articles of war were without authority as 
to the militia of the State until sanctioned or adopted 
by the General Assembly of the State. Colonel Pinckney 
approves the recommendation of General Moultrie of 
filling up the continental battalions of the State, and 
says that the militia law will undergo some material 
amendment, " but," he adds, " will not take such military 
strides with respect to extraordinary powers as some of 
our high flyers expect." ^ The General Assembly when it 
met did what it could to reconcile the regular regiments 
in the continental service, but it could not have been ex- 
pected that good men would be willing to enlist in a body 
upon which the legislature had cast such a stigma as 
to prescribe service in it as a punishment for crime and 
vagrancy. 

Colonel Pinckney writes again to General Moultrie on 

the 29th of January, that the bill for the better regulation 

of the militia was before the House of Representatives, " but 

with respect to the militia being subject to the articles of 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 278. 



1 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 335 

war, I believe this will never be submitted to." He adds : 
" I am sorry the General thinks the militia will be of no 
service without being subject to the articles of war, and 
therefore intends to stop their provisions. You know, my 
friend, on former occasions they have rendered essential 
service to their country under the present regulations . . . 
do not think of bringing freemen to the halter, or perhaps 
the receipt of a bullet by sentence of a court-martial for 
practices which they cannot conceive are crimes ; the pun- 
ishment is more than adequate to the offence, and there- 
fore highly improper in the case of freemen who have 
never formally and voluntarily resigned the rights of citi- 
zens to the benefits of civil law, as is the case of the soldier 
in the regular service." But how was the war to be carried 
on if, on the one hand, in the eyes of the State itself the 
ranks of the regular regiments were not too good for vaga- 
bonds and criminals, and, on the other, the militia were to 
be held above subjection to military law ? How different 
it was when, eighty years after, the State of South Carolina 
seceded from the Federal Union I Her young men then 
of the highest social position, the descendants of these 
very gentlemen, young men of wealth, of refinement, and 
of tlie highest education, hesitated not a moment to enter 
the ranks of her regiments as privates and enlisted men, 
and to subject themselves to the most stringent articles of 
war. They asked for no regulars to fight their battles. 
They murmured not at any discipline, however rigorous, 
which made them the better soldiers to fight for their 
State. ^ The hearts of the Carolinians of 1860 were in the 

' In the First South Carolina Volunteers — a regiment first organized 
by the convention of the State which passed the ordinance of secession, 
and in August, 18()1. enlisted for the vvliole war between the States, 
— in which regiment the author of this work had the honor to serve — at 
the battle of Cold Harbor, June 27. 1S02, the whole color-guard fell under 



33G HISTORY OF .SOUTH CAKOLINA 

cause of the Avar ; but as late as 1779 the hearts of tlieir 
forefathers generally had not been in that of the Revolu- 
tion. 'J'heir zeal and their fire were yet to be aroused by 
the conduct — not the cause — of their invaders, and when 
aroused by treachery and cruelty, they were to throw aside 
the aid of regulars and to fight their own battles, and 
readily and without question to obey and follow leaders 
who were yet to arise from their own people. 

In the meanwhile General Provost had made his way 
through Georgia and formed a junction with Colonel Camp- 
bell's force at Savannah. On his route he had invested 
Sunbury, which after some resistance had surrendered with 
forty pieces of cannon, a quantity of ammunition, and two 
hundred and twelve prisoners. Provost had arrived at 
Savannah about the middle of January ; but Campbell had 
not idly waited for him there. He was one of those com- 
manders who believe in striking quickly and immediately 
following up any success gained. Having secured Savan- 
nah, he at once set out for Augusta. The people of the 
interior of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina 
Avere knoAvn to be much more strongly affected to the 
British government than those on the coast ; and Camp- 
bell's purpose Avas to establish himself at Augusta and 
from that point to operate in the rear, as it Avere, of the 
Revolutionists in the LoAver Country. Upon the approach 
of Campbell, General Williamson, Avho had been posted 
Avith militia at Augusta, retreated and crossed the river 

the fire of Sykcs' division of United States regulars. Tliis guard was com- 
posed almost exclusively of men bearing the most historic names of the 
State. Of the thirty soldiers froni the old historic St. Philip's Church, 
Charleston, who were killed or died of disease in the service, whose names 
are inscribed on a tablet in the vestibule of the church, twenty were from 
the rank and file of the Confederate army. Of these there were two 
Middletons, two I'inckneys, two Ileywards. two Manigaults, a Prioleau, 
a Shubrick Mayne, a Washington Allston, a Ferguson, and a Gibbes. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 337 

into South Carolina. Here, as well as at Savannah, the 
inhabitants flocked in and took the oath of allegiance, and 
were formed into companies under the King with olHcers 
of their own choice.^ 

A part of this expedition under Lieutenant Colonel 
Campbell consisted of the battalion of North Carolina 
Royalists, under Lieutenant Colonel John Hamilton. 
Colonel Hamilton had seen much service. He was a 
Scotchman who had fought at CuUoden, a man of large 
fortune and high social position. He was beloved by his 
troops and respected by his opponents, to whom he was 
generous and humane. ^ This officer Colonel Campbell 
detached toward the frontier of Georgia with two hun- 
dred mounted infantry, to encourage such of the inhabit- 
ants as were attached to the British government, and to 
disarm the disaffected. In his progress, however. Colonel 
Campbell soon discovered that he could not trust to the 
profession of all who came in to take the oath of alle- 
giance : some came only for the purpose of obtaining 
information of his strength and future designs. But 
every effort to check the advance of this officer proved 
ineffectual, and emboldened by him a number of Loyalists 
in the interior parts of North Carolina had embodied 
themselves under a Colonel Boyd and attempted to force 
their way into Georgia and to form a junction with him. 
Andrew Pickens, a name to become illustrious in the his- 
tory of South Carolina, now for the first time appears a 
leader. We have seen him as a lieutenant in the Chero- 
kee War, and as a captain of militia at Ninety-Six, and 
member of the General Assembly ; but now he assumes a 
position of consequence and command, which from this 
time forth he was to maintain. To oppose Hamilton and 

1 Steadman's Am. M'rrr, vol. II, 106 ; Lee's Memoirs, 120. 

2 Wheeler's lieminiscences, 214. 

VOL. III. — z 



338 IIISTUIIY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

prevent Boyd's junction with him, Colonel Pickens 
assembled his militia, and with five hundred men from 
the District of Ninety-Six attacked Colonel Hamilton. 
Unable to make any impression on him, Pickens turned 
against Boyd's command and came up with them at Kettle 
Creek, where an action took place which lasted three- 
quarters of an hour and resulted in the death of Boyd and 
the total rout of his party. Abcnit three hundred of them, 
however, keeping together, found means to join the 
British army. The rest were dispersed, some flying 
back to North Carolina, others into South Carolina, where 
they threw themselves upon the mercy of tlieir country- 
men. Among these men who had collected under tlie 
specious name of Loyalists, were great numbers of the 
most infamous characters, — a plundering banditti, more 
solicitous for booty than for the hont)r and interest of 
their Royal master. As they had marched through the 
settlements, they had appropriated to their own use 
every kind of property they could take. Tiiose taken 
were tried under the direction of the courts of the 
new government, and seventy were condemned to die 
for treason ; but the sentence of the court was exe- 
cuted on only five of the principals, the rest were 
pardoned. It was alleged, and no doubt with trutli, that 
these men had committed great atrocities for which they 
deserved to die. But they were not tried and condemned 
as ordinary criminals : all the accounts agree that they 
were hanged for treason against the new government, not 
for murder or pillage.^ Let us recollect this when we 
come to like executions by the British authorities. 

Colonel Campbell having received orders to retreat from 
Augusta, recalled the detachment from his frontiers, and 
about the middle of February retired down the Savannah 
1 Ramsay's lierolution, vol. TT, 15 ; Stcadman's Am. War, vol. II, 108. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 389 

b}'' easy marches, until lie reached Ilutson's Ferry. There 
he left the advance of the British army under Lieutenant 
Colonel Provost, and returned to Savannah to establish 
civil orders previous to his departure for England. A 
conqueror at Savannah, says Garden, his immediate care 
was to soften the asperities of war and to reconcile to his 
equitable government those who had submitted in the first 
instance to the superiority of his arms. Though but lately 
released from close and vigorous confinement, which he had 
suffered in consequence of indignities offered to General 
Charles Lee while a prisoner at New York, he harbored 
no resentments, and appeared to consider his case rather 
the effect of necessity than of wilful persecution. Colonel 
Campbell had too nice a sense of honor to be made the 
instrument of injustice and oppression, and he was speedily 
called to relinquish his command to a superior less scru- 
pulous and better disposed to second the harsh measures 
of the commander-in-chief.^ 

The Royal army at Savannah having now been reen- 
forced by the junction of the troops from St. Augustine, 
Provost availing himself of his naval aid and of the inte- 
rior navigation made lodgement on the island of Port 
Royal with two hundred men under Major Gardiner. On 
the 2d of February, 1799, General Moultrie with General 
Hull and about three hundred militia crossed the river and 
attacked and drove the British from the island. In this 
engagement General Moultrie had but nine regular sol- 
diers, but he had with him a portion of the Charlestown 
hattalion of artillery, which was no doubt the very best 
fighting material in the service. This was the elite corps 
Christopher Gadsden had organized and drilled. It had 
now i)cen increased to a battalion of two companies under 
the command of Major Thomas (Jrimball, with Thomas Hey- 
1 Garden's Anecdotes, 277. 



340 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ward, Jr., and Edward Ilutledge, two of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, both still members of Con- 
gress, as Captains.^ On the 15th of January President 
Lowndes had issued orders to ]\Iajor Grimball to detach 
fifty men from his battalion, with two field-pieces, to join 
General Lincoln. A meeting of the officers was called, 
Mdien it was resolved to turn out the ])attalion and read 
the orders to ascertain if volunteers sufficient would offer 
for the service; if not, then to draw. The battalion turned 
out on the 16th, and instead of fifty, eighty volunteered 
and were accepted under the command of Captains Edward 
Rutledge and Thomas Hey ward, Jr. It was indeed to this 
corps that the success of the expedition was chiefly due. 
Heyward and Rutledge and Captain John Barnwell of 
the militia distinguished themselves in the action. Cap- 
tain Heyward was wounded, and Lieutenant Wilkins was 
killed. The British lost almost all their officers. The 
Americans had eight men killed and twenty-two wounded. 
General Lee in his Memoirs of the War in the Soicfheni 
Department observes that the object of the occupation of 
Port Royal, on the part of Provost, could not then be 
ascertained, nor has it since been developed. ^ 

1 This corps was the only regularly organized corps in Soutli Carolina 
which was organized upon the basis of the volunteers on either side dur- 
ing the war between the States. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776, 128. 

List of killed or wounded at the action near Beaufort, February 0, 17^0 : — 
Killed: Lieutenant Benjamin Wilkins, .Tolin Fraser, .John Craig, John 
Williams, Alexander Douglass, Ch.arles Smith, .Tames Heathoott, Joseph 
Solomon. 

Wounded: Honorable Captain Thomas Heyward. Captain Tlionias 
McLaughlin, Lieutenant Brown, Lieutenant Sawyer, John Calvert, 
Francis Bearing, John Kighton, John Lawrence, John Green, John 
Anthony, L D. Miller, Anthony Watts, John Collins, Stephen Deveaux, 
William Rea, John Cros.skeys, Michael Campbell, Ephraim Adams, 
Samuel Howard, John Graves, Tiiomas Feapue, ,Iohn Oliphant. Ramsay's 
Jtevolntion, vol. II, .391, .'5!t2. Omitted in above lists, George Jervey and 
John Parsons, wounded. 



IN THE KEVULUTIUX 341 

By the middle of February a very considerable body of 
militia had been eolleeted, but it was in a discordant and 
disaffected condition and was without organization or dis- 
cipline. The militia law was utterly inadequate to the 
occasion. The General Assembly w-as busy discussing 
liow to amend it, but in doing so showed that its members 
either had no appreciation of the situation, or were not 
prepared to make any sacrifices to meet it. Ramsay, the 
historian, describes the act, wdien passed, as "a very severe 
militia law," by which "much heavier fines were imposed 
on those who either neglected to turn out or misbehaved 
or disobeyed orders." But an army cannot be raised or 
maintained by fines. Death is the only penalty wdiich 
will force men to fight Avho do not voluntarily do so. A 
government which could not enforce an oath of allegiance 
was not in a position to enforce a militia law. While the 
enemy firmly fixed at Savannah were stretching their posts 
all the way to Augusta, Colonel Charles Pinckney, Presi- 
dent of the Senate, one who had been a leader throughout 
the revolutionary movements, and was now Moultrie's 
chosen confidential correspondent, could even under these 
circumstances write : — 

" It is not the danger or apprehension of danger at the present mo- 
ment tliat sliould oliligo a patriot to part with essential rights, and 
the present extraordinary proceeding puts me in mind of a spirited 
answer of the Conmions of Great Britain to the King when they were 
toll! 'That season was very improper to debate about rights and privi- 
leges when news liad been received that the enemy were to land an 
army in the kingdom in a few days.' The answer was to tliis effect 
if I remember riglit from parliamentary history, 'that if they were 
sure that the enemy had an army in the lieart of the kingdom and 
were marching with hasty strides to Westminster, tliey would not 
part witli one of the least rights and privileges of the people.'" 

This lie admits may be going too far, but as he con- 
siders the existing militia law a very vigorous one, and 



342 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

for his part he would never give his consent " to part with 
the constitutional freedom and liberty of the people in 
the mode pointed out by this before unheard-of militia 
bill."^ If one in so high a position as Colonel Pinckney 
thought and wrote thus, it is not surprising that the men 
drafted in the field under this law should be mutinous. 
On the 10th of February Moultrie writes to Pinehney 
that a whole regiment of four hundred North Carolinians 
say their time is out and that they intend to march this 
day homeward ;^ and the next day he writes, "I sent an 
order for the Charlestown artillery to march to Purr3's- 
burg, but General Bull informs me they will not stay 
lonsrer than the 1st of March : I fear our militia law 
will ruin our country ; in contending too much for the 
liberties of the people you will enslave them at last."^ 
General Bull in his letter to General ]\Ioultrie tells him 
that when he ordered this corps — the corps d' elite of 
the army — to march to Purrysburg, it occasioned so 
much uneasiness and dissatisfaction that Captain Hey- 
ward thought it best to represent the matter to him and 
to suspend the order for their march, as he found the men 
were determined to disobey it, refusing to serve in any 
other camp but General Bull's.'* 

General Lincoln would submit no longer to this dis- 
agreeable and dangerous situation. He was then facing 
the enemy whose force of veteran troops was superior in 
number to all of his own, and they were in this mutinous 
condition, — disobeying every order which they did not 
approve, leaving their posts and guards whenever they 
pleased, and refusing to submit to the articles of war, though 
in the presence of their enemies. He determined to have 
nothing more to say to the militia, and turned over their 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. T, 200, ;]00. 

2 Ibid., .310. 8 jjjij_^ 311. 4 ji,ia., 312. 



IN THE HKVOLUTION 343 

coiiimand to General Moultrie in hopes that they would 
more readily obey his orders. But in this he was mis- 
taken, for General Moultrie adds they still continued in 
their contumacy. ^ Lincoln appealed to John Rutledge, 
now Governor, and sent General Moultrie to him with 
a letter stating that ever}' plan which had been digested 
for offensive operation had been rendered abortive ; that 
many of the militia had refused to come out ; that others 
had joined the army but for a few da3's and left when 
they thought proper, deserting even their posts Avith im- 
})unity : that as the militia by the resolve of the Assembly 
were not to be considered under the same control with 
the army, it was necessary that the State should act sepa- 
rately, and itself undertake the defence of some particular 
part of the country. He charged Moultrie to recommend 
the Governor to send fifteen hundred militia to Purrys- 
burg so as to allow the continental troops to attempt 
offensive operations ; or if that was not agreeable, to urge 
the propriety of the State taking the defence of the 
Upper Country. He urged that provision should be 
made to suppl}' the place of the North Carolina troops, 
whose term of service was about to expire ; that all 
the continentals in the forts at Charlestown should be 
sent to him and their place supplied with the militia and 
(^harlestown artillery. Governor Rutledge promised to 
do all he could. 

The different divisions of the forces in the field at this 
time formed several camps. One at Purrysburg, com- 
manded b}- General Lincoln in person, which ^loultrie 
estimated at between 3000 and 4000 men. One at Brier 
Creek, on the west side of the Savannah, — that is, in 
(Jeorgia, — c(unmanded by General Ashe of North Caro- 
lina, which Moultrie estimated at about 2300, but which 
* Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, ;ll I. 



344 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

proved to be not more than 1500 strong, 100 of which 
were the remnant of the Georgia continentals under 
Colonel Elbert, the rest North Carolina militia. One 
at Williamson's house on Black Swamp, east of the 
Savannah, in South Carolina, under General Rutherford, 
of 700 or 800 men. Besides these there was a body of 
militia of about 1200 at Augusta. All of these made a 
quite strong force, and General Lincoln, notwithstanding 
his declaration that he would have nothing more to do with 
the militia, determined to cross the river with the forces 
on this side and give the enemy battle. For this purpose 
he called a council of w^ar of General Moultrie, General 
Ashe, and General Rutherford, who determined to march 
the army from Purrysburg, leaving a strong guard there 
to watch the enemy, join General Rutherford and cross 
the river, and, uniting with General Ashe, to attack the 
British force. At this council General Ashe assured Lin- 
coln that he Avas perfectly safe Avhere he was, that he had 
taken a good position on Brier Creek. This was true. 
His position was a good one. It w^as secured in his front 
by the creek and on his left by the river, leaving his right 
only exposed, but unfortunately the exj)0sed flank was 
not guarded. General Prdvost, anticipating Lincoln's 
plan, determined to attack Ashe before the junction was 
made, and the same plan was adopted as that by which 
Colonel Campbell liad outmancpuvred Howe at Savannah. 
On the 3d of March Major ]\Iacpherson with the first bat- 
talion of the Seventy-first Regiment, and some irregulars 
with two field-pieces, appeared in Ashe's front and made a 
demonstration of crossing the Savannah. Ashe's atten- 
tion was thus occupied while Lieutenant Colonel Prdvost, 
with a detachment consisting of three grenadier com- 
l)anics of the Sixtieth Regiment, Sir James Baird's light 
infantry, the second battalion of the Seventy-first Regi- 



IN THE KEVOLUTIUN 345 

moiit, and some provincial troops and militia, amounting 
in the whole to 900 men, by making a circuit and crossing 
Urier Creek fifteen miles above where General Ashe was 
encamped, succeeded in getting into his rear unperceived. 
Colonel Elbert with his little band of continentals made 
a brave but ineffectual stand. Ashe's men were totally 
routed and dispersed, with tlie loss of seven pieces of 
artillery and almost all their arms and the whole of their 
ammunition and baggage. The loss of the British was 
only five privates killed, and one officer and ten privates 
wounded. The loss on the American side was very great. 
One hundred and fifty fell on the field of action and pur- 
suit, 27 officers and 200 men were made prisoners, and a 
much greater number perished in the river. Of those 
who escaped only -450 rejoined Lincoln. The victory of 
the British was complete and its results decisive. Com- 
numications were again opened between the British posts 
and the frontier settlements, and the fruits of Pickens's 
victory all lost. The Boyal government as it had existed 
in Georgia at the commencement of the Revolution was 
again established. ^ 

Several attempts about this time had been made to fire 
Charlestown. On the 20th of February several houses 
were burnt on Trott's Point, the present end of Hasell 
Street. This fire had begun in an empty house owned 
by f>ne William Tweed, between two and three in the 
morning. 2 On the same day, as it happened, the General 
Assembly then in session passed an ordinance to prevent 
the withdrawal of persons from the defence of the State, 
by which it was enacted that if any person should attempt 

' Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 323. 353 ; Ramsay's lievolution in So. 
Co., vol. II, Ui ; Lee's Memoirs of 1776. 124; Steadman's Am. War, 
vol. II, 1011. 

2 So. Ca. Gazette, February 24, 1779. 



346 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to join the enemy or should actually go over to tliem, he 
should be declared guilty of treason, and upon conviction 
sliould suffer death without the benefit of clergy, and that 
liis property should be confiscated.^ This ordinance was 
published by Governor Rutledge in a proclamation. A 
few days after, to wit, on the 11th of jNIarch, William 
Tweed, together with Andrew Groundwater, John Duer, 
and one llemmington, were taken in attempting to go to 
the British. A special session of the court was held for 
the trial of these persons, when Remmington turned 
State's evidence. On the trial it appeared that Tweed 
was charged with carrying a very malignant letter to 
Colonel Innes and Colonel Campbell from a British offi- 
cer, a prisoner of war in Charlestown. Groundwater's 
purpose, it was proved, was to take the benefit of a British 
proclamation and offer of pardon, which would have 
required him to take up arms for the King. The court- 
room was crowded from the novelty of the proceeding, 
and at eight o'clock in the evening the jury brought in 
a verdict of guilty as to Tweed and Groundwater. Duer 
was acquitted, as he had been warned to depart from the 
State and was only availing himself of Tweed's offer to 
carry him to Georgia. Tweed and Groundwater were 
sentenced to be hanged. Much interest was excited in 
behalf of Groundwater, as he had, as captain of a small 
vessel, been of service in the beginning of the war in 
bringing in stores and necessary articles. But there 
ap})ears to have been no doubt as to the fact that Tweed 
had set fire to his house and caused the conflagration of 
the 20th of February ; and it was strongly suspected that 
Groundwater was concerned with him in this attempt to 
fire the town. 1'he recollection of the great fire of the 
year before greatly excited the people, and Moultrie says 
1 Statutes of So. Co., vol. IV, 479. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 347 

that the inhabitants were so incensed against Groundwater 
on this account that he suffered to appease theni.^ Tweed 
and Groundwater were sentenced on the 11th and exe- 
cuted on the 15th of Marcli. It was not every one, how- 
ever, who felt easy and assured at this hanging business, 
which had been begun at Ninety-Six, and was now carried 
on in Charlestown. Nor was tliis apprehension of evil 
dissipated when the news was received of Ashe's signal 
defeat and rout on the 3(1 of March. Colonel Charles 
Pinckney, writing to General Moultrie on the 18th, was 
very despondent, and could not avoid expressing his doubts 
on the subject and sympathy with these unfortunate men. 
He writes : — 

" Tlie lives that are lost amidst the conflict in the field for contend- 
ing laurels with a few bright strokes of military philosophy are easily 
and triumphantly got over, but alas ! the unhappy who suffer publicly, 
l>erhaps from mistaken principles (as in my humble opinion two poor 
fellows did yesterday), the sad mortification and miseries of death 
amidst a gaping crowd occasion so pungent a sorrow to some dis- 
positions that it requires much time to get the better of it." ^ 

" Perha[)s from mistaken principles I " But what if the 
Ro3'al authority should be again establislied, and Tweed's 
and Groundwater's principles should turn out to be the 
triumphant ones ! Hanging was a game that both sides 
could play, and the time was not long to come when the 
best of Carolina's stock were to suffer in the same way, 
'• perhaps from mistaken principles," at least, so Lord Raw- 
don and Balfour were to hold in the days of their power. 

From his camp at Orangeburgh Governor Rutledge 
wrote to General Williamson, ordering him to embody 
one tliousand men from Ninety-Six District, find to 

' Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 3:31 ; So. Ca. Gazette, March 17, 1779; 
.S'<(. Pit. tind Am. Uen. Gazette, March 18, 1779. 
- Moultrii's Memoirs, vol. I, IM'A. 



348 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

make incursions into Georgia wlicnever a favorable op- 
poitimity offered for harassing or annoying the enemy, 
and directing tliat the parties on these incursions were 
to destroy all the cattle, horses, and provisions they 
met with in Georgia. It happened that a short time 
before this General Lincoln had sent into Georgia 
l)rivately to desire those who had remained there and 
could not get away, to be quiet until he could return 
to them, and assuring them that they should not be 
molested by his army. About the same time Lieutenant 
Colonel Prdvost also sent a proposition to General Will- 
iamson to suffer these people to remain at home unmo- 
lested by either side, which proposition General Williamson 
sent to Governor Rutledge for his approval. This Gov- 
ernor Rutledge peremptorily refused, declaring it too 
absurd and ridiculous to require a moment's considera- 
tion, and that it only merited an answer because Will- 
iamson had promised one. General Williamson's answer 
should be that he was expressly enjoined not to agree to 
it. Listead of relaxing his efforts, he was ordered to pro- 
ceed as soon as possible to put it out of the enemy's 
power to secure the cattle, horses, and provisions which 
he believed it was Prd vest's object to obtain. Yet Gov- 
ernor Rutledge was himself soon to be proposing a neu- 
trality, not of a part, but of the whole, of his own State. 
Moultrie wrote to the Governor gently protesting against 
this interference with the management of the war, and to 
Colonel Pinckney tluit matters were brewing which might 
bring on misunderstandings between the Governor and 
General Lincoln. A few days after, however, he writes to 
Pinckney that all will be well again and that there was a 
prospect of opening the campaign in a fortnight with suc- 
cess.^ The inconvenience and danger of the conflict of 
1 Moultrie's Jlnnoirs, vol. I, ;3(>7-374. 



IN TIIK JlKVOLl'TIDX 349 

authority was, nevertheless, soon again to arise and to he 
more seriously felt. 

(ieneral Lincoln called a council of war on the 19th of 
April at his headquarters at Black Swamp, consisting of 
himself and Brigadier (Jenerals Moultrie, Isaac linger, 
and Jethro Summer, the last of North Carolina, to con- 
sider a move he })roposed into Georgia. He informed the 
council that the nund)er of men in camp with those at 
General Williamson's camp, and five hundred promised 
from Orangeburgh, and seven hundred North Carolinians 
then in the State, amounted to five thousand men, and 
desired their opinion whether leaving one thousand there 
and at Purrysburg it would be advisable to collect the 
remainder near to Augusta, cross the Savannah River, 
and prevent, if possible, the enemy receiving supplies 
from the back part of the country, circumscribe their 
limits, and prevent their junction with the Indians. The 
council advised the movement, and a supply of arms 
and ammunition having just arrived from St. Enstatia, 
replacing those lost at Brier Creek, the movement was 
commenced. 



CHAPTER XVII 

1779 

General Lincoln commenced his march for Augusta 
on the 20th of April with about two thousand men, light 
troops and cavalry, leaving his baggage and artillery to 
follow. On the 22d he wrote to Moultrie from Augusta, 
ordering him to send all the continental troops with the 
artillery, excepting the second and fifth regiments of South 
Carolina ; but directing Moultrie himself to remain in his 
present encampment at Black Swamp — about twenty-five 
miles from Purrysburg — with the two regiments, second 
and fifth, about two hundred and twenty men under Colonel 
Mcintosh, and Colonel ^Maurice Simons's brigade of Charles- 
town militia, in all about twelve hundred men ; and to keep 
the post at Purr^^sburg as long as it was in his power. 
Moultrie was instructed that if the enemy disclosed an in- 
tention to attack him and to move toward Charlestown, he 
was to possess himself of all the passes and to delay him as 
much as i)ossible until he, Lincoln, could come up. Lincoln 
cautioned Moultrie that this movement should be con- 
cealed as long as possible ; it was in fact already known 
in the Britisli camp while he was enjoining its secrecy. 
That very night a party of Indians, or people disguised as 
Indians, about thirty or forty in number, came through 
the swamp at Yeamassee above where the guard were usu- 
ally placed, surprised the guard, and burned down a house 
and escaped unmolested. On the 24th Lincoln wrote to 
General Huger, who was in command of the force march- 
ing to join him, that he had just received advice that the 

350 



IN THE REVOLUTION 351 

enemy had been strongly reenforced and intended with 
one body to cross the Savannah at some phice above 
Ebenezer whilst another advanced to cross higher up, and 
cautioned him against surprise. Lincoln thus knew as 
early as the 24th that it was the intention of the enemy 
to cross into South Carolina ; but this he regarded as 
only a move to counteract his and to draw him back from 
(loorgia, or to prevent Huger from joining him with his 
rc'iMiforcement. This, it seems, really was the original 
intention of the British commander; but finding the way 
practically open to Charlestown, Prevost pursued it.^ 

Ivincoln having thus withdrawn himself with nearly all 
the continentals and the best part of the organized militia 
into (Jeorgia, the defence of Charlestown was left to 
Moultrie with but a small and inadequate force for the 
purpose, while the difficulties of Moultrie's position were 
increased by the want of settled authority. For while there 
was no personal jealousy whatever between the State gov- 
ernment and himself, still all his supplies of men and 
material had to come from the State authorities, and the 
want of control in these hours of emergency crippled 
and embarrassed his action. All this was yet more com- 
plicated by the fact that Governor Rutledge had left 
Cliarlestown and gone to concert measures with Lincoln. 
Moultrie's urgent communications to him were therefore 
turned over to the Lieutenant Governor Thomas Bee. 
Tiius while Lincoln and Rutledge were intent upon 
(ieorgia, South Carolina was left to the care of Moultrie 
and Bee. The State did not, however, suffer from any 
want of conduct in this latter officer. Mr. Bee appears 
to have readily assumed the responsibility of his position, 
and to have acted with energy and decision in supporting 
Moultrie in the emergency. 

1 Steadman's Am. War. vol. II, 110. 



352 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

On the 28tli of April General Provost crossed over the 
greatest part of his army into South Carolina. Lieutenant 
Colonel Mcintosh with his small garrison at Purrysburg 
retreated at once to Coosahatchie, and there lie was joined 
on the 30th by Moultrie, the two commands scarcely 
amounting to twelve hundred men. Moultrie immediately 
sent dispatches to Lincoln and to the Governor at Orange- 
burgh and to Lieutenant Governor Lee at Ciuirlestown. 
He wrote to Lincoln informing him that he would impede 
the enemy's march as much as possible, and saying that 
if Lincoln could spare him one thousand men, he thought 
he could j)revent the enemy reaching the town. On the 
1st of jNLiy Moultrie moved his camp to TuUifiny Hill, 
a much more eligible place at which to make a stand, 
and with Mr. Thomas Hey ward, Sr., a gentleman of that 
neighborhood, reconnoitred the countr3^ It was a very 
dry season and the river very low, allowing several ford- 
ing places. At all of these Moultrie placed small guards 
to give notice of the enemy's approach. A rear-guard of 
one hundred men was left at Coosahatchie. Having deter- 
mined to make a stand at Tullitiny Hill, Moultrie took up 
a position there, having his few horsemen reconnoitring 
the country in every direction. The enemy at the time 
were encamped about ten miles from him. 

Determining on the 3d of May to draw in the detach- 
ment from Coosahatchie, Moultrie had given an order to one 
of his aides to bring them in ; but Colonel John Laurens, 
who had joined him two days before, requesting to be 
permitted to go on the service, Moultrie readily consented, 
esteeming himself fortunate in having so brave and expe- 
rienced an officer for the duty. For this purpose a body 
of three hundred and fifty men, one-fourth of his little 
army, was committed to Colonel Laurens. This youthful 
officer intrusted with so considerable a command, ambi- 



IN THE i; EVOLUTION" 353 

lious to do more than merely bring off a rear-guard, 
unfortunately exceeded his orders, very imprudently 
crossed the river to the east side, and brought on an 
engagement in \vhicli he lost a number of men killed 
and wounded, and was himself wounded. Captain Shu- 
brick, uj)on whom the command then devolved, immedi- 
ately withdrew, and it was well that he did so : had he 
not, the whole party would have been captured by the 
.advancing enemy. As soon as Moultrie had recovered 
this party he commenced a retreat, fearing to risk an 
engagement after the discouragement of Colonel Laurens's 
unfortunate affair. He marched off in good order and 
reached Salkehatchie Chapel that night. The British en- 
camped at Pocotaligo five miles in Moultrie's rear. Very 
much disappointed at Colonel Laurens's conduct, which he 
considered necessitated the abandonment of the position 
he had taken with the intention of engaging the enemy, 
Moultrie continued his retreat, destroying the bridges as 
lie passed over them and obstructing the advance of the 
enemy as best he could, all the while dispatching mes- 
sage after message to Lincoln, to Governor Rutledge at 
Orangeburgh, to Lieutenant Governor Bee and Colonel 
Pinckney at Charlestown. But Lincoln could not be per- 
suaded of the danger to the town. He regarded Prevost's 
invasion of South Carolina as only intended to allure him 
from (ieorgia, where he was bent upon remaining in order 
to cover an attempt to set up a government in Augusta, 
where an effort was being made to assemble a convention. 
( )n the Gth of May Moultrie writes to him from Ashepoo, 
saying he had written a number of letters telling him of 
the movement against Charlestown, but had received no 
reply except that he would send him a reenforcemcnt of 
picked continentals, which Moultrie added must be 
very strong to be of any service. He pressed that l^in- 

VOL. III. 2 A 



354 HISTORY OF SOUTir CAROLINA 

coin should come at once with all possible dispatch, else 
the enemy would reach the town before he did so. The 
numbers of Provost's force he estimated at four thousand. 
Lincoln had at last partly awakened to the danger, and on 
the same day had written to Moultrie that he was on his 
way down on the west side of the Savannah so as to 
divert the attention of the enemy, hut that if the enemy 
meant anything serious against Charlestown, he would 
recross the river and come to his assistance. In the 
meanwhile he thought that as Moultrie was in possession 
of strong passes, he would with the force he had be able 
to stop their progress and give him time to come up. 

Moultrie had intended to make a stand at Ashepoo, but 
his little army instead of increasing was daily diminish- 
ing. His force consisted chiefly of the militia of General 
Bull's district, that from which they were so precipitately 
retreating, and the British were burning and destroying 
as they came. Every one, wrote Moultrie, is running to 
look after his family and property. The enemy carry 
everything before them with tire and sword. On the 
7th of May Moultrie halted his troops at Dorchester, 
twenty-four miles from Charlestown, to which place he 
himself went with his suite. There he was received with 
great joy, but found everything in the greatest turmoil. 
Confusion and consternation, indeed, he says, had taken 
possession of the whole country. Five different bodies 
of troops were marching to the town, but without any 
common purpose. Moultrie, himself, was retreating ujjou 
it as fast as possible, at iirst with twelve luindred men, 
but as Skirving's and Garden's regiments of militia be- 
longed to the country they were abandoning, the men of 
these regiments left him, to take care of their families, 
and his force was reduced to six hundred before he got 
into the town. The British army under Provost was 



IN THE REVOLUTION 365 

close in pursuit of him. Lincoln with his force of four 
thousand was marching, but slowly, to come up with the 
Uritish. Governor Rutledge with six hundred militia 
was hastening to get to town, lest he should be shut out, 
and Colonel Harris of (leorgia with a detachment of 
two hundred aiul fifty continentals was pushing on with 
all possible dispatch to reenforce him. The troops under 
Moultrie marched into town, on the 9th. Governor Hut- 
ledge with his party of militia and Colonel Harris with 
his continentals also got in about the same time. Pulaski 
with a small party of cavalry from Washington's army 
had come over from Haddrell's Point on the 8th. His 
infantry came in on the lltli ; but all together they did 
not number more than one hundred and twenty-five men. 
Charlestown, as is well known, is situated at the end of 
a narrow neck of land, the confluence of two rivers, the 
Cooper on the east and the Ashley on the west ; these 
rivers uniting form the harbor which opens into the 
ocean. On tlie north side of the harbor lies Sullivan's 
Island, on which was Fort Moultrie, the scene of the great 
battle of the 28th of June, 1776, and on the south Fort 
Johnson. The battle of Fort Moultrie had led to the 
belief that the town was all but impregnable on the sea 
front, and very little preparation had been made on the 
land side ; but during Moultrie's retreat a large number of 
negroes had been put to work on the lines in the rear of 
the town, and tliese had been somewhat strengthened, but 
they were still very weak, not more than three or four 
feet thick in some parts, nor were the parapets com- 
pleted. The Asiiley River, however, which lay between 
the town and the country through which Provost was 
advancing, though not as wide as the Cooper, was yet a 
ixild, broad river for several miles, and so Prdvost, having 
no boats, was obliged to cross it at Ashley Ferry, twelve 



356 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

miles above Charlestown, which he then must approach 
by marching down Charlestown neck, a peninsula for 
six miles from the town not a mile wide. The possession 
of Ashley Ferry, therefore, was essential to his safety, and 
the only way for his retreat if necessary. Moultrie, as we 
have seen, had halted his troops at Dorchester, which lies 
twent3'-four ndles from the town, a point considerably 
beyond the commencement of the peninsula of Charles- 
town neck. From this point he fell back upon the town. 
This movement was a very false one upon INIoultrie's 
part — a mistake which was to be repeated the next year 
by Lincoln witli disastrous consequences. He should have 
taken position and given battle to Provost at Ashley Ferry. 
He had reached Dorchester, twelve miles from the ferry, 
on the 7th, and did not move his troops into the town 
until the 9th. The British reached Ashley Ferry only 
on the evening of the 10th. jNIoultrie had three days 
then within which to take position and strengthen himself 
to resist Prevost's crossing. Provost had no boats and so 
must depend upon those he could secure when he reached 
the river. These Moultrie should have seized in advance. 
If he could not resist Provost crossing the river, it was 
quite certain he could not resist him behind the weak 
lines of the town ; and if Provost defeated him at Ashley 
Ferry, he at least might have saved his arm}^ for he would 
have had the open country through which to retreat and 
await a junction with Lincoln, while Prdvost would scarcely 
have dared to move down the narrow neck between the 
Cooper and Ashley, leaving him to unite with Lincoln in 
his rear, and to capture him in the town. On the other 
hand, by leaving Prevost to cross the river without moles- 
tation and falling back down the peninsula, he risked the 
loss of his army as well as that of the town. H defeated 
behind the weak lines whieli luul been so hastily thrown 



IN Tin-: iJEvoLUTioN 357 

up, there was nothing left but the surrender of his whole 
fnrt-c ; there was no way of escape. There was, too, an- 
otlier urgent reason why lie should have preferred to deliver 
hattle in the lield. and that was tliat he would expose him- 
self to an additional and great evil in suhniitting him- 
self to a siege of tlie town. He would subject not only his 
troops, but the defenceless men, women, and children of 
the town to the dangers of battle .and the horrors of an 
iissault and storm, the dreaded terrors of which were so 
likely to bring about the interference of the civil authori- 
ties and to weaken the resolution of his men and of 
himself. 

l>ut disregarding these considerations he marched into 
the town, and on May 10 he placed the troops along the lines. 
The ("harlestown militia occupied the right extending from 
the half-moon battery on the C'ooper River side to the 
centre. The country militia were to occupy the left wing. 
The Charlestown Artillery were on the right, and the artil- 
lery — a part of the Fourth Continental Regiment — com- 
manded by Colonel Roberts were on the left ; Lieutenant 
Colonel Mcintosh took post with the Fifth Regiment in the 
redoubt on the right of the line, and Lieutenant Colonel 
Marion, with one hundred men of the Second Regiment, 
in that on the left. The advanced redoubt on the left was 
occupifed by Colonel Harris's detachment. The remainder 
of the Second Regiment with General Pulaski's infantry 
oei'Ui)ied the half moon in the centre and were to sally out 
from time to time, as the service might require.' 

On the 10th of May the British army reached Ashley 
Ferry in the evening, and having passed the river without 
opposition, ai)i)eared before the lines of Charlestown on 
the morning of the 11th. ^ Upon their appearance, Pulaski 

1 Moultrie's Mrmoirs, vol. I, 413. 

2 Steadman's .l;/i. War, vol. II, 112. 



358 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

with his legion and some militia had a skirmish with the 
advance guard, in which he was overpowered and lost 
most of his infantry, killed and wounded and prisoners. 
Among the killed was Colonel Kowatch, who had come 
with him. It was with difhculty that any of this party 
got back into the lines. This skirmish took place near the 
Nightingale race-course, which, as we have seen, was laid 
out in 1754, a little above and east of the present Line 
and Meeting streets.^ The rest of the day was spent in 
other skirmishing without particular result. The enemy 
advanced in the afternoon as far as Watson's house, 
which was situated in the square now bounded by Line, 
Meeting, Columbus, and King streets ; ^ but ]\Ioultrie 
opened upon them with his cannon at the gate of the 
town, which sto])ped their progress. 

But now the evils of the want of a settled and acknowl- 
edged authority began again to appear, and resulted at 
once in a fatal accident. About ten o'clock, or sooner, 
says Moultrie, it being very dark, some of the people on 
the right imagined they saw the enemy approaching, upon 
which a few shots were fired, and inunediateh' the firing 
ran almost tlirough the lines with cannon, field-pieces, 
and musketry, by which unfortunate mistake ]Major Ben- 
jamin Huger was killed, and twelve others were either 
killed or wounded. Major Huger was a brave and active 
officer, an able counsellor, and a virtuous citizen. This 
party, without Movdtrie's direction or knowledge, had 
l)een sent out of the lines to stop a gap which had been 
left open for a passage through the abatis. 

While the General Congress had organized a Conti- 
nental army and appointed generals to command it, and 
the State had turned over to the army her regular regi- 

1 Address of Gen. Wilmot G. Dp Sanssurc. Cincinnati Society, 1885. 

2 Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLl'TIOX 359 

nuMit, tliere docs not appear to liave been any provision 
made in regard to tlie militia when serving with the con- 
tinental troops. The result of this as now happened was 
a di\i<K'(l authority at the most critical moment. On 
this occasion it appears that the Governor's orders were 
carried about by some of his aides in this confused and 
indefinite manner, " You are to obey the orders of tlie 
fiovernor, of General Moultrie, and of the Privy Coun- 
cil." Moultrie overlieard such an order as he was riding: 
in haste through the gate of the town, and without stop- 
ping turned around and cried aloud, " No orders from the 
Privy Council are to be obeyed." Such orders were, 
however, delivered to many along tlie lines. They were 
so delivered to Colonel Mcintosh, who at once refused to 
receive any but from the General. Things were in this 
awkward position with the enemy close upon the lines 
when Moultrie, learning of the accident by which Major 
linger and his men liad been killed and wounded, much 
vexed, demanded to know " who gave the orders for 
those men to go without the lines?" Some one replied, 
"The Governor." But this the Governor denied, though 
lie maintained that it was his right to command the 
militia. General Moultrie then addressed himself to the 
(lovernor and Council, who were all together: "Gentle- 
men," lie said, "this will never do; we shall be ruined 
and undone if we have so many commanders ; it is abso- 
lutely necessary to choose one to command : if yon leave 
the command to me, I will not interfere in any civil 
matters you may do with the enemy, such as 'parlies, 
capitulations,' etc. I will attend only to the military 
department."^ Upon this ]\Ioultrie says the Governor 
and Council unanimously chose him to command. 

This certainly discloses a most unfortunate condition 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 420. 



360 HISTOIIY OF SOUTH CAUOLI.NA 

of affairs — the commander in a besieged town chosen 
at the gate with tlie enemy only a few hundred yards 
distant. But still more extraordinary was the arrange- 
ment made, for the command was not even yet entirely 
conceded to the military officer, but by Moultrie's own 
suggestion all such matters as " parlies and capitulations " 
were reserved for the Governor and Council. That is, 
the Governor and Council were to have the power to call 
a halt at any time if they considered the light waxing too 
hot. It is, indeed, hard to read ^loultrie's own account 
of this affair witliout an impression that he was not him- 
self altogether averse to a parley with the enemy, though 
unwilling to assume its responsibility ; ' and this impres- 
sion is strengthened by the account of it found in the 
Laurens manuscript.^ jNIoultrie narrates that about three 
o'clock in the morning, it being still very dark, he heard 
some person inquiring for him, and was told that the 
Governor wanted to see him ; upon which he rode up to 
the Governor, who took him aside and asked liim " whether 
we had not best have a parley with the enemy ; and 
whether we were able to resist their force ? " and asked 
about the number of our men. I assured him, says 
Moultrie, that they were upward of twenty-two hundred 
men, at least. He says in a note that he guessed this 
number, but that he had not then a full return. The 
Governor replied that he did not think they had more 
than eighteen hundred men ; that the enemy's force, as lie 
was informed, was seven or eight thousand, at least ; that 
should they force the lines, a great number cf citizens 
would be put to death. He represented to Moultrie the 
horrors of a storm, told him that the State's engineer, 
Colonel Senf, had reported that the lines were in a very 
weak state. After some conversation tlie (Governor pro- 
iMSS., So. Ca. Hist. Soc. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 361 

posed tlie sending out a flag to know what terms they 
could obtain. Moultrie says he told the Governor he 
thougiit they could stand against the enemy ; that he did 
not think the enemy could force the lines ; that he did 
not choose to send a flag in his name, but that if the Gov- 
ernor chose to do so, and would call his Council together, 
he would send any message. This was standing to the 
compact made at the gate the evening before. But, 
nevertheless, the message was sent in Moultrie's own 
name. The message sent was delivered by Mr. Kinloch, 
(ieneral Moultrie's aide, and was as follows : — 

" General Moultrie, perceiving from the motions of your army 
tliat your intention is to besiege tlie town, would be glad to know on 
what terms you would be disposed to grant a capitulation should he 
be inclined to capitulate." 

General Provost returned his answer about eleven 
o'clock that day, the 11th. In view of what fol- 
lowed, it is of consequence to give it in full. It was 
signed by Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Provost, the Gen- 
eral's brother commanding the advance, and was as 
follows : — 

"Sir, The humane treatment which the inhabitants of Georgia and 
this province, have hitherto received, will, I flatter myself, induce you 
to accept of the offers of peace and protection, which I now make by 
the orders of (ieneral Trevost ; tlie evils and horrors attending the event 
of a storm, (wiiicli cannot fail to be successful) are too evident, not to 
induce a man of humane feelings, to do all in his power to prevent it: 
you may dei>eud, that every attention shall be paid, and every neces- 
sary measure be adopted to prevent disorders; and that such of the 
inhabitants, who may not chuse to receive the generous offers of 
]>eace and protection, may be received as prisoners of war, and their 
fate decided Ity that of the rest of the colonies. Four hours shall be 
allowed for an answer; after which, your silence or the detention of 
the bearer of this, will be deemed a positive refusal." 



362 HISTOllY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

On the receipt of this letter General Monltrie showed 
it to the Governor, who imniediatel}' summoned his Coun- 
cil to meet at his own house, and requested that Moultrie 
would attend and bring Count Pulaski with him. Colonel 
John Laurens was also sent for. General Moultrie, in 
the meanwhile, ordered Colonel Cambray, the engineer, 
to work upon the left of the lines as fast as possible, as 
that part was very incomplete. He also ordered ammuni- 
tion to be brought up from the tOAvn to the lines. The 
Council thus assembled consisted, as we have seen, of the 
Governor John Rutledge, the Lieutenant Governor Thomas 
Bee, Colonel Charles Pinckney (Moultrie's correspond- 
ent), Christopher Gadsden, Roger Smith (the Governor's 
brother-in-law), Thomas Ferguson (Christopher Gadsden's 
brother-in-law), John Edwards, John Neufville (who had 
been chairman of the joint committee of non-importers 
in 1769-70), Colonel Isaac Motte, and John Parker. On 
the meeting of the Council, the letter of Colonel Provost, 
containing the General's terms upon which he would receive 
a capitulation, was read, and the matter of giving up the 
town was warmly discussed. General ]\Ioultrie says that 
Count Pulaski, Colonel Laurens, and himself advised 
against capitulation ; that being asked as to his numbers, 
he gave the Governor an account of corps by corps, 
writing a memorandum of them on the back of Colonel 
Provost's letter which they were discussing. They 
amounted, he says, to 3180 at the lowest computation.^ 

1 List given by Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 420: — 

Chaiiestown militia . 780 Two Continental regiments 300 i 

(iriiiil)alPs artillery . 150 Col. Harris's (letafliment . 250 j Conti- 

Freiu'h 50 Col. Rcckham's artillery . 00 [ nentals. 

Hull's brigade ... 400 Col. Mcintosh's regiment . 190 

Col. Neal's regiment . 150 Pulaski's and Racoon . . 200 

Simons's brigade . . GOO Sailors 50 

3180 



IN THH UKVOLUTION 363 

He had estimated, lie says, more in some of the corps, 
hut it would not be allowed him. The Governor was 
sure there must be some mistake ; he did not think there 
were more than 2500 men in the lines. 

There were certainly mistakes in these estimates in 
some instances, as appears from INIoultrie's own account. 
For instance, he puts down " Puhiski's and Racoon, 200." 
Now, Pulaski, he has just told us the day before, " paraded 
his legion (about one hundred and twenty and some 
militia), and attacked llie advance of the British troops 
. . . but he was soon overpowered ; in the skirmish he 
lost his Colonel (Kowateli) killed, and 7wos^ 0/ Ais infantry 
killed and wounded and prisoners." On a page or two 
further, he says that on his retreat from Black Swamp, 
Colonel Senf, from the Governor's Camp Orangebiirgh, 
joined him at Ponpon Bridge " with the Racoon company, 
commanded by Captain John Allston, of about fifty men 
on horseback." ^ These two corps, therefore, originally 
were but 170 strong, and Pulaski had lost a greater part 
of his the day before, and yet Moultrie now puts the two 
together at 200. This, of course, makes but a small dif- 
ference in the total strength of the arm}-; but it is of im- 
portance in weighing the evidence of Moultrie's estimates 
as to the strength of the force in Cliarlestown, about which 
Governor Rutledge and himself differegl so widely. It is 
manifest that Moultrie's figures were mere estimates, and 
not based upon returns made upon an actual count. No 
such actual returns would have resulted in even numbers 
of hundreds and fifties, in every instance. Indeed, he 
says, '' I had mentioned more in some corps, but it would 
not be allowed me." Again, in the account which he 
gives, on May 8, of the various bodies marching to 
Cliarlestown, he puts (tovernor Rutledge's force from 
1 Mevwirs, vol. I, 432. 



3G4 lIISTOltV OF S.OUTH CAROLINA 

Oraiiox'burg-h at about GOO militia.^ Colonel Neal's regi- 
ment had formed a part of that force ; ^ but in this 
estimate he puts this regiment as a distinct body at 
150, and Colonel Simons' brigade, which came with 
Governor Rutledge, at 600, making Governor Rut- 
ledge's force 750. There is difficulty also in regard to his 
estimate of the Continental troops. By Lincoln's order 
he had, on the 24tli of April, sent all the Continental 
troops excepting his detachment of the Second and Fifth 
regiments, amounting to 220 men, to Augusta. Upon 
his urgent messages, Lincoln had dispatched Colonel 
Harris with a detachment of 250 Continentals which had 
come in. This would give him 470 Continentals, but he 
puts the continental troops present at 800. May not 
General Moultrie have been mistaken in these estimates, 
as he undoubtedly was in the instances of Pulaski's and 
the Racoon corps? His detailed estimates certainly do 
not settle the difference between Governor Rutledge and 
himself, as to the strength of the troops upon which they 
had to rely. Governor Rutledge's estimate of 2500 men 
was probably nearer the truth. 

General Moultrie had been sadly deficient in cavalry. 
He complained in his letter to Governor Rutledge on 
the 3d of iNLay that if he had only 100 horsemen he 
could stop the progress of the enemy ; but Major John 
Barnwell with about 20 horse was all that he had 
until he reached Dorchester, where he met Colonel Horry 
with some of his newly raised regiment of Light Dra- 
goons, which gave him in all 150 horse. The absence of 
cavalry left him without the means of ascertaining the 
strength of the enemy's force, which was accordingly 
greatly exaggerated. The Governor and Council were 
alarmed by reports which tohl them that the enemy 
1 Me^noirs, vol. I, 412. ^ j^d,^ 370. 



IN THE HE VOLUTION 365 

had 7000 or 8000 men. But this Moultrie did not 
credit ; and a i^cntlenian wlio liad heen reconnoitring 
witli a party of horst', having been asked liis opinion 
respecting the ninnher of the enemy, gave them to tlie 
(Jovernor, corps by corps, from the information he had 
received, which account was taken (h)\vn by the Governor 
on the back of the same letter that came from Colonel 
Pr<jvost.^ This gentleman also said that besides those 
taken down by the Governor a great many Tories from 
North and South Carolina and Georgia had joined them. 
He would not, however, contradict Moultrie's estimate, 
that there could not be more than 4000 at most. Moul- 
trie was more correct in the estimate of the British 
force than he was of his own ; the force under Prdvost 
was reall}' much less than he tliought. It amounted in 
fact to about 2400,2 [)y■^^^ ^]^[^ included some of the best 
troops in the British army. 

While this discussion was going on at the Governor's 
house Captain Dunbar of the Second Regiment came in 
great haste to inform Moultrie that General Provost had 
observed that the work on the lines was continued during 
the passing of the flags, and sent to say that if it was 
not immediately stopped he would march his troops in. 
Moultrie stopped the working and urged the Governor 
and C^ouncil to conclude upon something ; but it was not 

' This estimate was as follows : — 
Koyal Scotch Iligh- 

landfis .... l.'iOO or 1500 

Hessians 500 or 700 

Royal .\mericans . . 200 

De Laiieey's First 

and Sixteenth . . 200 



» Steadman's .Im. War. vol. II, ll'-'. 



Troops fioin Augusta 




900 


New York volunteers 






Light horse .... 




400 


Indians 




120 
.3620 


- Moultrie's Memoirs, 


vol. 


I, 4.30. 



366 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLIX.V 

until the next clay, the 12th, during which time, strange 
to say, General Provost waited for an answer, that they 
at length resolved that he should send the foUowinof 
message : — 

" Sir : I cannot possibly agree to so dishonorable a proposal as is 
contained in your favor of yesterday; but if you will appoint an offi- 
cer to confer on terms, I will send one to meet him at such time and 
place as you fix on." 

Provost refused to confer in this way, and the Council 
was called again to consider what should be done. 

A discussion ensued, upon which the following message 
was ultimately determined upon : ^ — 

" To propose a neulrality duriiuj the war between Great Britain and 
America, and the question whether the State shall belong to Great Britain or 
remain one of the United States, be determined by the treaty of peace 
between those two powers." 

Among the Laurens manuscripts now in the possession 
of the South Carolina Historical Society, there is another 
account of what took place. ^ By this account the Gov- 
ernor laid before the Council the strength of the enemy and 
the situation of the garrison. Major Butler,^ the Adju- 
tant General of the State, said that the enemy must 
be between 7000 and 8000 men, and specified tlie par- 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 433 ; Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., 
vol. II, 27. 

'■2 The Laurens manuscript, account is in two pieces — one a fragment 
in the handwriting of John Laurens himself ; the other in the hand- 
writing of his father, who at this time was, however, in Philadelphia in 
attendance upon Congress. John Laurens was killed, August 25, 1782, 
so this account was probably given by him to his father before his death, 
and is therefore probably nearly a contemporaneous account. 

' Major Pierce Butler, formerly of the Twenty-ninth Royal Regiment, 
who had married a daughter of Colonel Thomas Middleton, and resigned 
and settled in South Carolina, afterward member of the convention 
which framed the Constitution of the United States, and one of the first 
senators from this State. 



IN TUK I J EVOLUTION 367 

ticular corps. Colonel Senf, the engineer of the State, 
gave it as his opinion that the lines were indefensible, 
and stated that that was also the opinion of Du Cam- 
hray, the Frenih engineer ; but this Du Cambray, who 
was not present, afterward, it is said, denied. General 
Moultrie wa^ then desired to give the Council a return of 
the garrison, which he did, specifying the different corps, 
which amounted to .-{080, and added that he believed this 
was the lowest computation. Governor Rutledge said 
that Moultrie's estimate was impossible. He, however, 
desired the opinions of Moultrie, Pulaslci, and Laurens, 
who declared their belief that they were able to fight 
and to beat the enemy should they make an attack. The 
(Tovernor and Council, however, — continues this account, 
— through timidity, apprehending and anticipating the 
cahiiiiities and cruelties to which the inhabitants would 
be exposed should the enemy succeed, or for some other 
consideration among themselves, determined (it is said) 
by ') to 3 to make the following proposition to General 
Prdvost : — 

" That he should he permitted to take possession of it " (the town') " pro- 
rideil the State and Harbour should he considered as neutral during the 
irar, the question whether it belonged to Great Britain or the United States 
to be waived until the conclusion of it, and that whenever that should happen 
whatenr teas granted to the other States, that" (South Carolina) ^^ should 
enjoy" 

Gordon ill his History of the American Revolution gives 
a version which supports this of t!ie Laurens manuscript, 
viz. : — 

" Th<it South Carolina was to remain in a state of neutrality till the 
close of the war, and thru follow the fate of its neighbors on condition the 
Royal army would withdraw." ^ 

» Gordon's Am. lie v., vol. Ill, 257. 



368 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Steadman in his History of the American War states the 
proposition very loosely. He says : — 

"yl proposal was made on their part " that is on the part of the Ameri- 
cans, '"'■for the neutralittj of the province during the war, and at the end of 
the war its fate to he determined by the treaty of peace." 

The essential cliflference between the two versions of the 
proposition, it will be observed, is that in that of Moultrie 
Governor Rutledge and his Council are made not only to 
propose a neutrality, but to abandon the fate of South 
Carolina to the convenience and pleasure of Great Britain 
and the other States, when they should come to settle a 
treaty of peace between them ; to leave the fate of the 
people of South Carolina to be bargained for and nego- 
tiated upon without reference to their wishes or interest ; 
their disposition to be treated as one of the side issues 
along with the fishery question which the New Englanders 
were demanding as one of the terms of peace. But under 
the Laurens version — though John Laurens refused to 
be the bearer of the message — the town was not to be 
surrendered without substantial concessions in favor not 
only of South Carolina herself, but of her sister States as 
well, viz.: (1) That the harbor was not to be a British 
port, but to be regarded as a neutral one. If the town 
was to fall, this was an important point to be secured, for 
under the provision no British fleet could use its waters 
for warlike purposes, no prize could be brought to the 
town for adjudication, no prize court could sit there for 
condemnation and sale of captured vessels.^ The principal 
object of the whole campaign, the capture of Charlestown 
as a base of future operations, would thus have been prac- 
tically frustrated. (2) That in no case should the fate of 
the State of South Carolina be separated from that of the 

1 Kent's Commentaries, vol. I, 103 (12th ed.). 



TX THE REVOLUTION 369 

otlior States. Slie was not to be the subject of trade and 
barter when the war should end, but should be free or 
otherwise, as the result of the war should determine for 
her sister States. We wish that we could adopt with 
some degree of assurance the Laurens version of the 
proposition as the true one ; but Avhile John Laurens cer- 
tainly knew of its terms, we are met by the statement of 
Moultrie, that all the messages carried out were in his 
possession when he wrote. ^ 

There is a probable solution of the proposition of the 
Governor jind Council to include the whole State in the 
terms of neutrality which we have found nowhere sug- 
gested, l)ut which may have had great and controlling 
influence in the offer. Wherever the British forces had 
hitherto obtained possession of the country it had at once 
been assumed that the Royal authority Avas restored, and 
that the inhabitants were to be thenceforth regarded as of 
their old allegiance, and by logical consequence subjects 
(tf ( Treat Britain, and moreover that such being the case, 
as subjects they were liable to military dut}^ and were to 
be enrolled as provincial militia under his iNIajesty, to be 
called upon for service against their former friends and 
allies. This had been done in Savannah and Augusta, 
and if Charlestown was taken, without condition, it would 
be so done here. Indeed, it was so to be attempted in 
South Carolina when Charlestown fell the 5^ear after. 
I'rdvost had offered that if the town would be surren- 
dered, sueh of the inhabitants who might not choose to 
receive his offers of peace and protection might be 

' Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. T, 433, note, " All the messages that were 
carried out were signi'd by the gentlemen, and are now in my posses- 
sion." Moultrie, however, it is to be said, is a very loo.se writer, and is 
certainly at times incorrect about matters which he should have known. 
He wrote in 1802, twenty odd years after these events. 

VOL. 111. 2 11 



370 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

received as prisoners of war, and their fate decided by 
that of the rest of the colonies. The Governor and 
Council now proposed to enlarge the scope of the offer to 
include all the people of South Carolina, — for Avith the 
fall of the city the fall of the rest of the State would 
undoubtedly follow, — but to modify the proposition so 
that the people shoiild be regarded as neutrals, and hence 
not subject to service in the Royal militia. We can 
scarcely doubt that this consideration had great weight, 
if, indeed, it was not the controlling motive. 

Ramsay says that it was presumed that Lincoln was in 
close pursuit of Provost, but his situation was unknown, 
and that the proposition of the Governor and Council 
was made only to gain time. This view has been ear- 
nestly and elaborately argued by the historian, William 
Gilmore Simms, in a lecture delivered in New York City 
November, 185G,^ and there is a well-authenticated family 
tradition which maintains that Governor Rutledge years 
after assigned the same cause for his action. We, how- 
ever, have been unable to concur in that solution of the 
matter. Governor Rutledge may doubtless have claimed, 
and justly so, that the manner in wliicli he had conducted 
his negotiations up to this point had saved the city by 
detaining Prevost a whole day before the town. Twenty- 
four precious and, as it turned out, decisive hours had 
been gained by his negotiations, and it was to these, no 
doubt, to which he alluded when he gloried in having 
saved the city, and with the city the State over which he 
presided. But he had now exhausted diplomacy, and 
no guns were heard announcing Lincoln's approach ; no 
message through the lines had come from him. The 
necessity for final action had now come. It was a storm 

^ A. S. Salleys, Jr., in tlic Sunday Xcics, Charleston, S.C, July 9, 
1809. 



IN THE HEV^OLUTION 371 

of the city by a force believed to be overwhelming, or a 
surrender upon the best terms he could ol)tain. If the 
Laurens account of the terms he proposed is correct, is he 
to be blamed for offering them ? If surrender he must, 
what better could he have hoped to obtain ? But that the 
(tftVr when nuide was made for acceptance or rejection by 
Prdvost, and no longer for mere delay, — wise or unwise, 
honorable or improper, as it may be regarded, — must be 
admitted. Sup2)ose Prevost to have promptly accepted 
the proposition, would not Governor Rutledge and the 
Council have been bound by it ? And was the proposi- 
tion so different from that proposed to General William- 
son, shortly before, which Rutledge had rejected, or from 
that first made by Pr<^vost at this time, as to have insured 
its rejection ? The circumstances all contradict the sug- 
gestion. Had the offer been made, not in good faith, but 
merely for delay, would not Moultrie and Gadsden and 
Laurens and Mcintosh, or some one of them, have been let 
into the design and have so understood it? That they 
did not so understand it is evident from their conduct. 
While, however, Moultrie refused to carry on the negotia- 
tions for a surrender when the responsibility was returned 
to him, by whom it should never have been committed to 
another, he cannot escape equal responsibility in the mat- 
ter, for not only did lie himself send the message, but 
there is evidence that he did not altogether discourage 
the Council in making the proposition. In the manu- 
script account by Colonel Laurens, to which we have just 
referred, there is this statement : — 

"The Governor asked General Moultrie's opinion of the Propo- 
sition, and what he immagined the other States would think of it 
— who said altho' he was against it, and would not have himself 
or the Troops under him included, yet he thought the other States 
hail DO reason to complain, as theij had not fuljillect their engagements 



372 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to it in giriug it aid and assistance, from which promise that State came 
into the union." ^ 

There was, no doubt, a strong feeling prevailing in 
South Carolina that she had been abandoned to her fate 
by the Congress — a belief which continued until the fall 
of Charlestown, and for which, indeed, there was strong 
foundation, so strong a foundation that Congress itself 
felt called upon by a special resolve to deny it. To this 
sentiment was now added the resentment that Lincoln, 
who had been sent without troops, but witli implied if 
not specific instructions to defend Charlestown, as he him- 
self afterward claimed in his justification upon its loss, 
had carried off the greater part of the South Carolina 
continentals to Georgia, upon a rash and, as it turned 
out to be, a fruitless expedition, leaving the town and 
State open to this invasion. This feeling pervaded all 
ranks, affecting, even as appears from Laurens's statement, 
Moultrie himself. 

1 Laurens's MS., So. Ca. Hist. Soc. In Moore's Diary of the Am. Eev., 
vol. II, 1G2, we find this note : — 

" The following is the proposition made by Colonels Smith and 
Mcintosh to Colonel Provost and Captain Moncrief at a conference at 
Charlestown, May 12, 1779: — ' That Carolina should remain in a state 
of neutrality during the war, and the question whether Carolina should 
remain an independent State or be subject to Great Britain be determined 
by the fate of the ivar.'' 

" 'This proposition shows in a clear point of view with what ease the 
people of Carolina can throw off and break their most solemn engagement 
with the Continental Congress and France on the approach of real dan- 
ger, or whenever they think it will suit their private views. Such is the 
boasted virtue and honor of the inhabitants of South Carolina. 

" ' Some time ago the State of South Carolina made a requisition to the 
Continental Congress for a supply of troops in South Carolina. The 
Congress sent young Mr. Laurens to recommend it to them to arm their 
domestics, and at the same time recommending Mr. Laurens as a proper 
person to head them. This is said to be the cause of Carolina's being 
willing to remain in a state of neutrality.' " — Gaines'' Mercury, July 12. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 373 

The deliberations of the Governor and Council were 
recjuired to be kept secret, but the excitement caused by 
the proposition broke the seal of silence. Christopher 
(iadsden and his brother-in-law, Thomas Ferguson, and 
li)hn Hdwards vehenientl}' op[)osed the message. Moul- 
( lie says, " Edwards was so affected as to weep, saying, 
' Wiiat ! are we going to give up the town at last ?'" and 
(iadsden, without scruple, communicated to some citizens, 
members of the legislature then under arms in the 
works, the nature of the measure which had been decided 
upon by the Governor and the other members of the 
Council. And solemnly and openly, it is said, was it then 
declared that the lives of the advocates of tlie measure 
sliould atone for the disgrace inflicted on the countrj-.i 
This determination was made known to the members of 
tiie Council. But Ivutledge and those who had resolved 
to make the proposition were just as firm and determined 
men as Gadsden himself, and did not shrink from the 
responsibility they had assumed, nor were they to be 
intimidated because Gadsden and his friends threatened 
their lives. How completely John Rutledge maintained 
his ascendency, and retained the implicit confidence of the 
people, was amply demonstrated the next year when in 
the crisis of the war he was clothed with dictatorial pow- 
ers — a delegation of power by which alone the authority 
(if the State was preserved during two terrible j^ears, 
when South Carolina was abandoned to her fate by those 
in whose interest she had gone into the struggle, and while 
(iadsden lay in the dungeon in St. Augustine. 

There was difliculty, however, to get some one to carry the 

message. The Governor and Council adjourned to Colonel 

lieekman's tent on the lines at the gate of the town, and 

Moultrie requested Colonel John Laurens to carry this 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 271, 272. 



374 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA ^^H 

message, which Laurens, knowing its purport, refused 
to do. Moultrie then sent for Colonel Mcintosh, and 
requested that he would go with Colonel Roger Smith, 
who was to be sent out by the Governor. Botli of these 
begged to be excused, and requested that Moultrie would 
get some other person. But Moultrie says, " /, hoivever^ 
pressed them into a compliance.'''' 15y his own statement, 
therefore, Moultrie was himself less opposed to this propo- 
sition than Roger Smith or Colonel Mclntosli, for he 
"pressed them into compliance" ; and whatever blame, if 
any, is attached to the Governor and Council for propos- 
ing this message, Moultrie must share, for he sent it. 
Why Roger Smith declined is not so clear, for he was 
present as a member of the Council, and was, it is sup- 
posed, one of the majority that passed the resolution to 
make the proposition. 

There is another view of this matter which cannot 
escape observation. General Moultrie, it is claimed, 
refused to allow himself or his troops to be included in 
the surrender, but surely that position cannot be main- 
tained. Moultrie had begun the negotiation by asking 
Provost "on what terms he would be disposed to grant a 
capitulation." A capitulation of what but of Moultrie's 
army as well as of the town ? His army consisted of 
about one thousand Continentals and two thousand mili- 
tia. There can be no question that the militia would be 
included in the surrender by the Governor if made, and 
as certainly when Moultrie sends the proposition deter- 
mined upon by the Governor and Council witliout reser- 
vation and by one of his OAvn officers — and that a Con- 
tinental officer — he was offering a capitulation of the 
whole army, which was necessarily and primarily included 
in Prevost's summons to the town. 

Colonel Mcintosh and Rojjer Smith were met bv 



IN THE REVOLUTION 375 

Colonel Prevost, appointed by General Prevost, his 
brother, to confer with them. They held their confer- 
ence a quarter of a mile from the gate, in the sight of 
tilt' lines. Upon hearing the proposal Colonel Provost 
answered "that they did not come in a legislative capac- 
ity, but if Colonel Sniitli pleased, lie would show the 
I)roposal to the General." Upon their meeting a second 
time at twelve o'clock, Colonel Provost said "that he had 
nothing to do with the Governor, that his business was 
with General Moultrie, and as the garrison was in arms 
they must surrender prisoners of war." Upon this, says 
Moultrie, the Governor and Council looked very gi-ave 
and steadfastly on each other and on him, not knowing 
what he would say. After a little pause ]\Ioultrie said to 
tlie Governor and Council, "Gentlemen, you see how the 
matter stands ; the point is this : I am to deliver you up 
prisoners of war or not." Some replied "Yes." Then 
said Moultrie : " I am determined not to deliver you up 
])risoners of war. We will fi<jht it out.'''' Upon Moultrie 
saying this. Colonel Laurens, who was in the tent, jumped 
up and exclaimed, " Thank God, we are on our legs 
again ; " and as Moultrie was coming out of the tent 
General Gadsden and Mr. Ferguson, two of the Council 
who were against giving up the town, followed him and 
said, " Act according to your judgment and we will sup- 
port you." Moultrie tliereupon immediately ordered the 
flag to be waved from the gate, which was a signal agreed 
upon should the conference be at an end. The enemy 
did not perceive thff flag wave and continued theirs flying- 
some time longer, upon which Moultrie sent out Mr. Kin- 
loch to inform them that he "was very sorry they should 
be detained so long — that liis flag had been waved some 
time ago, and that all conference was at an end." Moul- 
trie then hurried on prt'paring for the defence. 



376 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The next morning, that is to say the 13th, at daylight, 
strange to say, to the great joy of the citizens, it was cried 
out along the lines, '" The enemy is gone ! " And so it 
proved to be true. The main body had commenced the 
retreat immediately after the conference was ended, leav- 
ing some of their light troops to make a show before the 
lines to prevent Moultrie from perceiving their movement, 
and then to move off under cover of the night. Pulaski 
immediately proceeded to reconnoitre and followed them 
with his cavalry, but they had crossed the Ashley River 
before he could overtake them. 

Moultrie's letter to Lincoln of the 8th, informing him 
of his arrival in Charlestown and of the condition of 
affairs, reached Lincoln at four o'clock p.m. on the 10th. 
Where, it is not stated ; but Lincoln's reply to Moultrie, 
written at that hour, was taken by the British on the 
11th, near the lines of Charlestown. He was, therefore, on 
the afternoon of the 10th, within twenty-four hours' com- 
munication with Moultrie, and yet at five o'clock in the 
afternoon of the' 12th, two days after, he was quietly en- 
camped " about thirty-five miles from Wort's Ferry on 
Edisto." ^ This Wort's Ferry is that since known as 
Givan's Ferry, and is sixteen miles from Dorchester and 
about thirty miles from Charlestown. He had, therefore, 
made scarcely any progress in these two days, and was still, 
on the afternoon of the 12th, encamped sixty-five miles from 
Charlestown, though Moultrie had informed him, on the 8th, 
that Prdvost was at Salkehatchie Bridge, that is, within 
fifty-six miles of the town.^ He had How at last realized 
the seriousness of Provost's invasion, for he writes : " We 
are now making and shall continue to make every exer- 
tion for the relief of Charlestown. The baggage will be 
left . . . the inability of the men only will put a period 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 435. - Ibid., 410. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 377 

to our daily marches," and yet he was making no haste. 
If he had made a tuU day's march on the lOtli, why did 
he not, instead of sending a letter, which might fall into 
I he hands of the enemy, as it did, resume the march on 
the morning of the 11th, and press on toward Wort's 
l-\Try, thirty-five miles, and to Dorchester, sixteen miles 
further, which he might have reached on the evening 
of the 12th? lie would then have been exactly the 
same distance from Ashley Ferr}' as was Provost ; for 
Asiiley Ferr}' is equidistant from Dorchester as from 
(harlestown. When, therefore, Provost would have 
learned of his approach, and turned to reach the Ferry, — 
his only way to cross the Ashley, — he would have been 
met by Lincoln across his path, and with Moultrie in his 
rear, between the two forces, Prdvost must have been de- 
stroyed. Provost had indeed placed himself in a cul-de- 
sac. Having no boats he had been obliged to cross the 
river at Ashley Ferry, twelve miles from Charlestown, and 
then to march down the peninsula which, as we have 
said, foi^ six miles from the town w^as not a mile wide 
from the Ashley to the Cooper. Had Lincoln, therefore, 
sent no letter, but let his guns only announce to Prevost 
his coming after he had passed the quarter house, six 
miles from the town, lie must surely have captured the 
British army — " Burgoyned " them as Moultrie, in his 
letter to Lincoln on the 5th, had hoped they would do. 
lUit instead of this, Lincoln writes in the evening of the 
12th, " We are now encamped about thirty-five miles from 
Wort's Ferry on Edisto." Imagine Sumter or Marion 
or Tarleton or Stonewall Jackson going into camp under 
such circumstances I 

Lincoln's letter of tlie 10th had been taken by the 
IJritisii on the 11th ; l)ut though it declared he was making 
cverv exertion for the relief of C'harlcstow n, and that the 



378 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

inal)ility of his men only would put a period to his daily 
marches, the British, no doubt, were fully aware that at 
the rate of his progress they would have at least twenty- 
four more hours within which to storm the town or 
receive its capitulation. Doubtless, however, it was the 
letter that Provost wished. But wliy, then, did he not 
accept the propositions of the Governor and Council, if 
that proposition was in the terms given by Moultrie and 
Ramsay? The answer of Colonel Prdvost, that they did 
not come in a legislative capacity, and that the General 
would have nothing to do with the Governor and Council, 
was inconsistent with his proposition to General William- 
son for a neutrality for a part of Georgia, the month 
before, which Governor Rutledge had then indignantly 
repudiated ; and it was inconsistent, too, with his offer 
of the day before to General Moultrie, viz., " That such of 
the inhabitants who may not chuse to receive the generous 
offers of peace and protection may be received as prisoners 
of war, and their fate decided by the rest of the colonies." 
The proposition of the Governor and Council, if Moultrie 
and Ramsay are correct, Avas practically an acceptance of 
this offer enlarged to include the whole people of the 
State. Provost, on the lltli, had proposed that such of the 
inhabitants of the town — not soldiers — such of the in- 
habitants^ that is civilians, as would not accept his offer of 
peace might remain prisoners of war, that is, take no 
further part in the struggle until their fate was decided 
by the rest of the colonies. The (Tovernor and Council 
had answered this proposition by another, offering the 
neutrality of the State until their fate should be decided 
by the result of the war between Great Britain and the 
other colonics. 

There was under the circumstances nothing ignominious 
in the proposition of neuti'ality itself, for the people of 



IN THH KEVOLUTION 379 

South Carolina had never proposed or desired separation 
from Ent^hmd, and tlie Revolution had taken a shape in 
the Declaration of Independence to which the mass of the 
people were doubtless opposed. The Congress of the State 
had not authorized lier delegates to sign that instrument, 
and the delegates had announced when asked to do so 
that tlie people of South Carolina were not prepared for 
such a step. Then had come England's offer of peace 
through the commissioners in 1778, which fultilled the 
utmost demand which the people of South Carolina had 
ever made. But the proffer of peace had been anticipated 
and defeated by the alliance with France, which was in 
itself hateful to the Carolinians, as shown by the fatal riot 
of the last September. Having accepted ofifice under the 
new Constitution, and clothed with almost dictatorial 
l»o\ver, Rutledge had in good faith endeavored to rally the 
peoi)le to resistance. But the militia in South Carolina 
had done as the militia had in Massachusetts, in Connecti- 
cut, in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, and everywhere when 
called upon, they had refused to abandon their families at 
the call of a government whose authority was not yet 
established. General Bull's brigade from the lower part 
of the State had dwindled to but four hundred without a 
battle, and the Governor had been able to bring with him 
from all the rest of the State but six hundred men. No one 
l)robably knew better than Rutledge himself that of the 
seven hundred and eighty militia of Charlestown many 
were ()[)i)osed to the whole movement, and many more to the 
Declaration of Independence and separation from Great 
Britain. Then, too, was the dread consideration of the evils 
and horrors of the storm of a town to which Colonel Pre- 
vost had alluded in his answer to Moultrie's first offer 
and which, as the Governor and Council reviewed the 
ill-armed and undisciplined troops upon whom alone they 



380 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

had to rely for resistance to a force they believed of twice 
their numbers, including the very Hower of the British 
army, they could not but fear would be as successful as 
Colonel Provost predicted. And to all of this was added 
the deep feeling and resentment to which Moultrie had 
alluded, when he declared that the other States would have 
no reason to complain, as they had abandoned South Caro- 
lina and left her to her own defence. It was no doubt, 
as we have before observed, wise in a military view for 
Washington to turn a deaf ear as he had so far done to all 
applications for aid. It was no doubt true that Charles- 
town was so far away, as Washington wrote to the Presi- 
dent of Congress in the fall of the 5'ear, that b}^ the time 
the Continental troops even in Virginia coidd reach it 
they would be so reduced by fatigue, sickness, and 
desertion that their aid would be of scarcely any con- 
sideration, and that the march would exhaust the whole 
detachment.^ But if this was so, if the other colonies, to 
the assistance of which South Carolina had so liberally 
contributed of her means, could not come to her aid, 
though the enemy weakened his forces in their front to 
assail her, surely she was not to be blamed for taking care 
of herself. Recollecting the position which her people 
liad taken throughout their struggle, there was nothing 
in duty or honor to prevent the Governor and Council, if 
they possessed sucli a power, from declaring a neutrality 
between Great Britain and these colonics Avhich desired a 
separation and independence which South Carolina did 
not. But Avhen if true the Governor and Council pro- 
posed that the question Avhether the State should belong 
to Great Britain or remain one of the United States should 
beV determined, not by herself, but by the treaty of peace 
between those two powers, leaving the fate of the State to 

\'''-> 1 Washington's Writings, vol. VI, 411. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 381 

be determined by others than her own people, they inflicted 
ii stain upon her iiistory which required all the blood shed 
in the subsequent struggle to wash away. Whether South 
Carolina under the circumstances was called upon to con- 
tinue a struggle upon which she had not voluntarily em- 
barked, was a fair (question for his Excellency and Council. 
Hut they abandoned her honor with their own when 
they proposed, if they did so, to allow that question to 
be decided by any but her own people. We prefer to 
believe that the Laurens account of the transaction is the 
true one. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

1779 

Lincoln reached Dorchester on the 14th of May, the 
day after Prevost had made good his escape by way 
of Ashley Ferry, Having crossed the river, Provost 
remained for some days near the Ferry, then retired 
toward the seacoast and took possession of John's Island, 
which is separated from the mainland by Stono River. 
This river or inlet is connected with Ashley by a water- 
way known as Wappoo Cut, which opens directly opposite 
the town. The British kept a post on the mainland, cov- 
ering a ferry across the Stono as well for the security of 
the island as for the protection of foraging parties. Three 
redoubts were thrown up for the defence of this post, 
which were joined by lines of communication, and its 
rear was covered by the Stono. Across this inlet there 
was a bridge of sloops and schooners lashed together. 
The post was thought of so much consequence that for 
some time the garrison consisted of fifteen hundred men 
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Provost. Lin- 
coln determined to attack this post, and on the 31st of 
May General Isaac linger was detached with one thousand 
foot and Count Pulaski's and Horry's horse for the pur- 
pose. But Pulaski, on reconnoitring the position, reported 
the British as too strongly intrenclied, and a retreat was 
ordered. 

There existed at this time great disaffection to General 
Lincoln, and the abandonment of this attack, though it 
was upon Pulaski's report, added to the dissatisfaction 

382 



IN TIIK REVOLUTIOX 383 

with his coinnumd. Coniphiints and reflections against 
him were very general. His conduct in marching to 
Augusta, and leaving the Low Country exposed and put- 
tiug Charlestown in such eminent danger, was much criti- 
cised, not only by the citizens, but by officers under his 
comuiand.^ Lincoln was aware of his unpopularity and 
was anxious to be relieved, and the more so as he was 
suffering in health. On the 13th of jNLay Congress had 
given him permission to retire and had " resolved that 
Hrig. Gen. Moultrie be commander in the absence of 
Maj. Gen. Lincoln of the Southern army during its con- 
tinuance, to the southward of North (Carolina, with the 
allowance of a Major General on a separate command 
until the further order of Congress," and John Jay, Presi- 
dent, had communicated this resolution to INIoultrie in 
very flattering terms. But Moultrie loj-ally and modestly 
replied, trusting that the present posture of affairs would 
prevent Lincoln from availing himself of the permission 
granted him by Congress, and in the same spirit wrote 
to Lincoln urging him not to leave. Lincoln replied to 
Moultrie on the 10th of June with equal patriotism but 
evident mortification. He declared that the same motives 
which had led him to the State would retain him so long 
as his health would permit him to act, if there was the 
same prospect of rendering service to his country as when 
he took command in the department ; but as it appeared 
from the unkind declarations thrown out in the capital 
that he had lost the confidence of the people, whether 
justly or not, he could render little service to the public 
aud ought to retire. He went on to add that from the 
attachment of the people to Moultrie, and their confidence 
in his knowledge, judgment, and experience in military 
matters, he had great confidence that Moultrie would 
* See Colonel Grimk^'s letter, Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 495. 



384 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

command with honor to himself and with the approbation 
of his countr3^ Lincoln did not, however, relinquish the 
command, but continued, without achieving any successes, 
until he capitulated at Charlestown the year after. Nor 
is it to be believed that Moultrie would have been more 
successful had Lincoln turned over the command to him. 
The trutli is, that neither was a great commander. Both 
were doubtless brave men, but neither was equal to the 
emergency. Lincoln was brave,' active, and vigilant, but 
he was so very cautious that he would take no step of any 
consequence without first calling a council of officers to 
advise with them upon measures — and such councils sel- 
dom march or fight to any purpose. Under the advice 
of such a council he had gone to Augusta, and when the 
emergency arose demanding a prompt and vigorous retrac- 
ing of his steps, he hesitated until he let slip an oppor- 
tunity of destroying the enemy, came near losing the 
town he was especially cliarged to defend, and lost the 
confidence of the people. Moultrie, too, was brave — 
brave to a fault. But he was inactive and careless. 
Through his neglect and indifference the victory which 
has immortalized his name came well-nigh being lost, and 
the same want of energy was now in a few days to lose 
the fruits of another battle. The military genius of the 
people had not yet developed itself, nor, indeed, was the 
spirit which was to inflame that genius yet itself aroused. 
On the 15th of June General Lincoln came to town 
from his camp at Stono to consult with the Governor 
and Council upon a plan of operations against the British 
lines. The attack was to be made by his troops, and a 
strong detachment from Charlestown was to be thrown 
over to James Lsland to cooperate with him. 'J'his plan 
was, no doubt, suggested by information of the intended 
movements of the enemy. On the lOth of June Lieu- 



IN THE IlKVOLUTION 385 

tenant Colonel Provost left for Savannah, carrying with 
him the grenadiers of the Sixtieth Regiment and all the 
vessels which had formed the bridge of communication ex- 
cept an armed flat which contained twenty men. Indeed, it 
seems to have been determined to evacuate the post, and 
ui»on Lieutenant Colonel Maithind, who had succeeded to 
the command, devolved the duty of carrying out this pur- 
j)osc, now rendered both diificult and dangerous by Colonel 
Pr(^vost"s injudicious conduct in carrying away the ves- 
sels that preserved the communication with John's Island. 
Tlie 17th, 18th, and 10th days of June were employed by 
the British In transporting across the inlet the sick and 
wounded, the negroes and Indians, with the baggage and 
horses belonging to the garrison, and in destroying all 
unnecessary huts and buildings. These precautionary 
measures had become the more necessary because of the 
reduced condition of the garrison, whieli now consisted of 
the first battalion of the Seventy-first Regiment, part of a 
Hessian regiment, part of the North and South Carolina 
regiments of provincials, and a detachment of artillery, 
probably not much exceeding five hundred men effective 
and fit for duty.^ 

Lincoln had learned of tlie weak condition of the British 
])ost, but his own force was scarcely better. The South 
(^arolina militia, under General Williamson, were disap- 
l)earing one by one at first ; then a whole company from 
Colonel Kershaw's regiment — a captain, subaltern, and 
twenty-seven privates — deserted their post all together. 
Nor could those who remained be depended upon. The 
James Island company could not be induced to mount 
guard, but would content themselves with riding patrols 
in the day opposite John's Island, nay, some of them at 
night would go over to the British camp in small canoes. 
1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, IIG. 
VOL. in. — 2 c 



386 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

It was found necessaiy to remove the company to Charles- 
town and put others in their phice.^ The time of the 
North Carolina militia would expire in a few days. 
Nevertheless, Lincoln determined to attack the British 
before they withdrew. On the 16th, the day upon which 
Provost had left the post, Lincoln instructed Moultrie to 
hold the garrison of the town in readiness to march on 
the shortest notice, and to provide one hundred rounds 
of ammunition to each man. The Governor and Council 
agreed to allow twelve hundred men to go from the town, 
and the Governor wrote offering to do anything to assist 
the movement. On the 19th General Lincoln ordered 
Moultrie to throw over on James Island at once all the 
troops which could be spared from the town, and to show 
them to the enemy on John's Island. INloultrie was to take 
his boats up Wappoo Cut to enable him to cross to John's 
Island if opportunity offered. If he heard any firing in 
the morning at Stono Ferry, and found the enemy re- 
treating, he was at once to pursue them. Moultrie thus 
had three days, with the proffered assistance of the Gov- 
ernor and Council, to provide boats and transportation to 
take him across from the town to James Island, a distance 
of about a mile. Had he obeyed Lincoln's orders, and 
had had everything in readiness, he would have crossed 
his command of seven hundred men over during the day 
of the 19th, and would have been in position to cooperate 
with Lincoln the next morning. But, unfortunately, he 
had neglected Lincoln's instructions, as he hatl neglected 
Lee's, to protect the flank of his fort three years before. 
A fortunate accident prevented the catastrophe which 
might have resulted from his neglect of Lee's order ; but 
none occurred to save him from the consequence of his 
neglect of Lincoln's. When called upon to move, the 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 474, 49G, 



II 



IN THE REVOLUTION 387 

boats were not in readiness, and so tlie next morning 
before he had got halfway across with the detachment 
from the town to James Ishmd, he heard Lincoln's guns 
commencing the attack on the British lines at Stono 
Ferry, and the battle was entirely over before he arrived 
at Wappoo Cut.^ 

Lincoln put his army in motion at midnight of the 19th, 
and having joined the battalion of light infantry, under 
Lieutenant Colonel Henderson, who had been advanced, 
they arrived about an hour after daybreak before the 
enemy's works. Lincoln's flanks were covered by two 
battalions of light infantry, — Lieutenant Colonel Hender- 
son at the head of one cori)s, and Colonel Maimed}- at the 
head of the other. The left of the line was composed of 
Continental troops, under General Huger, with four field- 
pieces. The brigade of North and South Carolina 
militia with two field-pieces formed the right, under 
General Jethro Sumner of North Carolina. Li the 
rear of this body was posted a small party of Virginia 
militia under General Mason, who had recently arrived. 
With these were two field-pieces in reserve. The cavalry 
under Pulaski were posted upon the right of his reserve 
and rather more retired. 

With this cavalry under Pulaski was a small body of 
North Carolina horsemen, under the command of William 
Richardson Davie, who was later to become one of the 
most active and famous partisan officers of the war. 

C'Olonel Lee in his 3Iemoirs commends the formation 
of Lincoln's line of battle, in that, knowing that the High- 
landers, the Seventy-first Regiment, would take the enemy's 
right, he had ])laced his Continentals on his left, though 
according to militar}^ usage they were entitled to position 
on tlie right, as they were the regular troops. The British 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. I, 490. 



388 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

line under Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, an able officer, 
was composed of the Highlanders on the right and a 
regiment of Hessians on the left, with tlie provincial 
regiment of North and South Carolina in the centre, 
under Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton. About seven o'clock 
in the morning tlie attack was begun upon the British 
pickets, which gave the first alarm to Colonel Maitland. 
Tlie garrison was immediately under arms, and two com- 
panies of the Seventy-first Regiment were sent out to 
feel the strength of the assaihiiits. The detachment had 
gone a little more than a quarter of a mile when it fell in 
with the Continentals on Lincoln's left. An engagement 
immediately ensued and was so obstinately maintained by 
the Highlanders that they did not retreat until all their 
officers were either killed or wounded ; and of the two 
companies only eleven men were able to make good their 
retreat. This advantage encouraged the assailants, who 
were ordered to reserve their fire and to put the issue of 
the battle on the bayonet. Lincoln's whole line advanced 
with alacrity. The enemy waiting their approach until 
within sixty yards of the abatis, they were received with 
a full fire from the artillery and infantry. Disobeying 
Lincoln's orders his troops returned the fire, and the action 
became general. The Hessians on the British left gave 
way in the face of the North and South Carolina militia 
under Sumner. Maitland, seeing this, made a quick move- 
ment with the Seventy-first Regiment from the right to the 
left of the British line, and stopped Sumner's progress. By 
the great exertions of Colonel Maitland the Hessians were 
rallied and again brought into action, and the battle raged 
with increased fury. Lincoln endeavored to stop the fire, 
and, finally succeeding, ordered a charge ; but the moment 
liad passed, and the troops could not be got to the work. 
They renewed the fire, wliich continued for more than an 



IN THE REVOLUTION 389 

liour, when the British army was seen liastening to the 
ferry, Moultrie having failed in making the intended 
diversion. Lincoln now despairing of accomplishing his 
object, — the destruction of this body, — ordered a retreat, 
an<l some confusion ensuing incident thereto, Maitland 
pronnUly turned upon him and advanced with his whole 
line. The cavalry now ordered up (Pulaski was not 
present) gallantly charged upon the enemy themselves 
in disorder ; but Maitland closed his ranks as the horse 
bore upon him, and giving them a full fire from his rear 
rank, the front, holding its ground with the baj'onet, 
brought this corps, brave but undisciplined, to a halt, and 
then forced it to retire. Mason now advanced with his 
Virginia brigade and delivering a heavy fire the enemy 
drew back, and Lincoln effected a retreat in tolerably 
good order. - 

Thus ended the battle of Stono. Whatever may have 
been the result had Lincoln's orders to put the issue of the 
battle upon the bayonet been carried out, and had not his 
tro(Tps in disobedience of his express command stopped to 
deliver their fire instead of chaiging the enemy at once, 
upon Moultrie must rest the blame of its failure. He had 
been warned to have boats ready to cross three days in ad- 
vance. The boats were there ; for he found the next morn- 
ing enou^li of them to move seven hundred men, besides 
a number of gentlemen volunteers. It was not, therefore, 
the want of boats, but the delay in collecting them, that 
})revenled his crossing on the evening of the 10th. These 
seven hundred fresh troops, equal in numbers to the whole 
(tf the Biitish force, coming up upon their rear during the 
action, would have secured the capture or destruction of 
the whole party. But this great advantage was lost simply 

1 Memoirs of (he War of 1776, 130. VM ; Steadman's Hist. Am. 
War, vol. II, IK), 118; Moulliiu'.s Memoirs, vol. I, 4U5, 498. 



390 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

through Moultrie's want of energy and promptness. Our 
hero could be trusted for whatever gallantry could accom- 
plish, but unfortunately he could not be relied upon for 
exertion. 

The action on the Stono had lasted very nearly an hour. 
The British loss was 129. Of these 3 officers and 23 men 
were killed, and 10 officers and 93 men wounded and miss- 
ing.^ The American loss Avas somewhat more — about 
150 killed and wounded. Among the killed was Colonel 
Owen Roberts, the commander of the Fourth Continental 
Regiment of South Carolina (artillery). Colonel Roberts 
had taken an active part in the Revolution from its com- 
mencement, and had been elected Major of the First Regi- 
ment by the Provincial Congress upon the organization of 
the troops which the State afterwards transferred to the Con- 
tinental service. From that position he had been promoted 
Lieutenant Colonel of the Fourth (or artillery) Regiment. 
He had taken part in Howe's expedition to Florida, and 
had commanded the artillery in Howe's unsuccessful battle 
at Savannah the December before; indeed, it was thrctUgh 
his extraordinary exertions that the British were kept in 
check on that occasion until the centre of Howe's army 
had made its escape. His son, Avho was also in the action, 
hearing of his father's misfortune, hastened to him. The 
expiring officer perceiving his son's great soriww, with 
great composure, it is said, thus addressed him : " I rejoice, 
my boy, once more to embrace you. Receive this sword, 
which has never been tarnished by dishonor, and let it 
not be inactive while the liberty of your country is endan- 
gered. Take my last adieu, accept my blessing, and 
return to your duty."^ Major Ancrum, a volunteer, and 
William R. Davie, now promoted by Lincoln to Brigade 
Major of Cavalry, were both severely wounded. The 

1 Steadraan's Am. War, vol. II, 118. ^ Garden's Anecdotes. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 391 

latter narrowly esca2)ed with liis life, and was only saved 
by tlie great gallantry of a trooper. The horse of this 
trooper had been killed, and on his retreat, seeing the 
eminent danger of his oftieer, returned at the risk of 
his life, for the enemy was within a few steps, and with 
great composure raised Major Davie on his horse, to whose 
bridle Davie still clung, and safely led him from the 
Ijattle-field.i Depositing the Major in safety, this soldier 
disappeared, nor could Davie upon his recovery, months 
after, ascertain who was his preserver, though he made the 
most diligent inquiry. Two years after, at the siege of 
Ninety-Six, the soldier made himself known to Colonel 
Davie, — as Davie then was, — and was killed the next day 
in battle. Among the slightly wounded at Stono were 
General Isaac Huger, commanding the Continentals, and 
Colonel Laumo}', the French engineer. Hugh Jackson, a 
l)rother of Andrew Jackson the President, who fought in 
the ranks in Davie's corps, died after the action of heat 
and fatigue.^ 

Two days after the battle Moultrie sent three galleys 
through Wappoo Cut to break up the enemy's communica- 
tions on the Stono. The three galleys got under way that 
evening, and coming up with them at Stanyarne's were 
received with a brisk fire from field-pieces and small arms, 
whicli lasted for three-quarters of an hour. The galleys 
took a scliooner from under the guns of the British, which 
they silenced. They then proceeded farther up the river 
and attacked another battery of three field-pieces on a 
bluff, and these they also silenced; but daylight coming 
(»n, and the tide having been spent, they came to anchor, 
and some time after returned, bringing Avith them their 
prize schooner. In this affair six men were killed and a 
number wounded on the galleys. 

1 Wheeler's Hist, of Xo. Ca., 180. - Parton's Life of Jackson, 69. 



392 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The British post at Stono was soon after evacuated, and 
the army retiring along the seacoast passed from iskuid 
to island until it reached Beaufort. At this place General 
Provost established a post, the garrison of which was left 
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Maitland. 
Prdvost himself, with the rest of the army, returned to 
Georgia to rest his troops during the sultry and sickly 
season in the Low Country, which had now set in. 

The onl}^ advantages which had been gained by this 
inroad of the British were first the establishment of the 
post at Beaufort, which was of strategic importance, as 
from it they could readily penetrate by means of the 
inland navigation into an}^ part of the Low Country 
unmolested by the Carolinians, for the Avant of a navy; 
and, secondly, the plunder which they carried off. This 
last, however, was a much greater advantage to the indi- 
viduals in the British army themselves than to the King, 
for it alienated many a loyal subject from his Majesty's 
cause, and cumbeied the army itself with much unnecessary 
luo-ofaofe. 

Says the historian Ramsay, the incursion into South 
Carolina and subsequent retreat contributed very little to 
the advancement of the Royal cause ; but it added much 
to the wealth of the officers, soldiers, and followers of the 
British army, and still more to the distresses of the 
inhabitants. The forces under the command of General 
Prdvost marched through the richest settlements of the 
State, where there are the fewest white inhabitants in pro- 
portion to the number of slaves. The hapless Africans, 
allured with hopes of freedom, forsook their owners and 
repaired in great numbers to the Royal arm}'. They 
endeavored to recommend themselves to their new mas- 
ters by discovering where tlieir owners had concealed tlieir 
propert}', and assisted in carrying it off. All subordina- 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 393 

lion destroyed, they became insolent and rapacious, and, 
in some instances, exceeded the British in their plunder- 
ings and devastations. Collected in great crowds near 
tlic Royal army, ihcy were seized Avith camp fever, and 
groat numl)crs perished. The British carried out of the 
Slate, it is sup[)osed, about tliree thousand slaves, many 
of whom were shiit[)e(l from Georgia and East Florida and 
sold in tlie West Indies; the planters lost upwards of four 
thousand, each of whom was worth two hundred and fifty 
Spanish dollars. When the British retreated, they had ac- 
cumulated so much plunder that they had not the means 
of removing the whole of it. The vicinity of the Ameri- 
can army made them avoid the mainland and pass in 
great precipitation from one island to another. Many of 
the horses which they had taken from the planters were 
lost in ineffectual attempts to trans})ort them over the 
rivers and marshes. P^or want of transportation a num- 
ber of the nt'OToes were left behind. These had been so 
thoroughly impressed by the British with the expectation 
of the severest treatment, and even of certain death from 
their owners in case of their returning liome, that in order 
to get off with the retreating army they would sometimes 
cling to the sides of the boats. To prevent this danger to 
the boats, the hands of some of them were chopped off, 
anil soldiers were posted with cutlasses and baj'onets to 
oblige them to keep at proper distances. ]\Iany, laboring 
nnder diseases, afraid to return home, forsaken by their 
new masters, and destitute of the necessaries of life, per- 
ished in the woods. Those who got off with the army 
were collected on Otter Island, where the camp fever con- 
tinned to rage, and hundreds of them expired. Their dead 
bodies, as they lay exposed in the WH")ods, were devoured 
bv beasts and birds, and to the day when Ramsay Avrote, 
ITS"), the isliiiid was strewn with thi'ir l)om's. The 



394 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

British also carried off with them rice barrels filled with 
plate and household furniture in large quantities, which 
they had taken from the inhabitants. They had spread 
over a considerable extent of country, and sm;ill parties 
visited almost every house, stri[)[)ing it of whatever was 
most valuable, and rifling the inhabitants of their money, 
rings, jewels, and other personal ornaments. The reposi- 
tories of the dead were in several places broken open and 
the grave itself searched for hidden treasure. What was 
destroyed by the soldiers was supposed to be of more value 
than what they carried off. Feather-beds were ripped 
open for the sake of ticking. Windows and chinaware 
were dashed to pieces. Not only the larger domestic ani- 
mals were cruelly and wantonly shot down, but the licen- 
tiousness of the soldiery extended so far that in several 
places nothing M'itliin their reach, however small and 
insignificant, was suffered to live. For this destruction 
they could not make the plea of necessity, for what was 
thus killed was frequentl}^ not used nor carried away. 
The gardens, which had been improved with great care 
and ornamented with man}^ foreign productions, were laid 
waste, and nicest curiosities destroyed. The houses of 
planters were seldom burnt, but in every other way the 
destructions and depredations committed by the British 
were so enormous that should the whole be particularly 
related, concludes Ramsay, they who live at a distance 
would scarcely believe what could be attested by hundreds 
of eye-witnesses.^ Hundreds of e3'e-witnesses are living 
to-day who could attest alike to similar atrocities and 
robbery committed near eight}^ years afterwards in the 
same country by men calling themselves fellow-country- 
men of the plundered, and under tlie same pretext of 
spoiling and jmnishing rebels. But the British liistorian 
' Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 30-34. 



IN THE IlEVULUTIOM 395 

of the war of the Revolution wlio wrote after Ramsay 
offers no excuse in palliation of such conduct. He says 
the only real advantage gained by this irruption into 
South Carolina was a supply of provisions for the troops, 
the want of which had begun to be felt in Georgia, and 
the establishing a post at Beaufort. But the American 
accounts, he adds, have charged the army under General 
Pr(ivost with gaining other advantages of not so honor- 
able a kind, and with such an a[)pearance of truth that 
a regard for impartiality obliges us not to pass them over 
unnoticed. By these accounts the}^ luive been charged 
with i)lundering the inhabitants indiscriminately and 
enriching themselves at their expense — an imputation, if 
true, of a most disgraceful nature and ruinous tendency 
not only to the army, but to the interest of the British 
nation, as such rapacious conduct must have irritated the 
inhabitants in general against the British army and alien- 
ated the attachment even of those who were best affected 
to government.^ 

The attack upon Stono was scarcely over, and the retreat 
of the British to Port Ro3'al was not yet completed, when 
the militia under Lincoln began to demand their release 
and to be allowed to return home. On July 3 General 
Moultrie writes to Governor Rutledge that from William- 
son's information he finds it impossible to keep his men 
in the field any longer, and that the expectation of relief 
for them was entirely vanished, as he had seen a letter 
from Colonel Lisle and others in that part of the countr3% 
to Williamson, informing him he could not get the men 
to march to the coast. As an excuse, he writes, they have 
played the old stale game of Cameron's being in the 
Cbeiokees with a number of white men and Indians ready 
to fall on their part of tlie country, and also the story of 
1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 119, 120. 



39G HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

one thousand Tories coming from North Carolina. lie 
couhl not tell what to advise unless they could discharge 
all the back country men and begin some new plan. He 
had prevailed upon Williamson's men to stay until he 
could hear from the Governor, when he had no doubt that 
they would be allowed to return home. Two days after 
he writes to Lincoln that upon General Williamson's 
frequent representation that he could not keep his men 
a day longer in camp, he had issued an order for their 
returning home that da}-, the 8th of July. He adds, "I 
know they would go without my leave, had I not done it 
(their number 726)." Colonel Pickens's men went off in 
a body, and the term of the North Carolina and Virginia 
militia having expired, they also took their departure.^ 
Fortunately, the heat of the weather prevented any further 
operations for the season, so Lincoln established himself 
at Sheldon with about eight hundred Continentals, con- 
veniently situated to watch the enemy at Beaufort. 

During Provost's invasion an incident occurred which 
nearly cost the State the life of a citizen Avho afterwards 
rose to great distinction in her service. Two companies, 
one commanded by Captain John Raven Mathews, and 
the other by Captain John Barnwell, were stationed at the 
plantation of Mathews on the John's Island's side of the 
Stono. Captain Mathews, by seniority, commanded Cap- 
tain Barnwell's Beaufort company as well as his own, 
and unfortunately by drilling in sight of the British post 
allowed the British to ascertain the strength of his com- 
mand; nor was he sufficiently careful in posting his 
guards and in permitting visitors to his camp. Thomas 
Fen wick, who was after this a well-known Royalist, com- 
ing in, supped with his officers, and tlnis obtained full 
information in regard to the post. At midnight a body 
^ Moultrie's ]^Ic'm(nrs, vol. II, 11. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 397 

of Britisli troops crossed to Jolin's Island in two parties, 
one of which went directly to Fenwick's honse, about 
three miles above, .and the other to Mathews's landing. 
Upon a signal from Fenwick himself both parties pro- 
ceeded simultaneously to the attack, Fenwick himself con- 
ducting his party against his friends and neighbors, of 
whose hospitality he had just partaken. The first sentinel 
a[)i)roached, whether from fright or treachery, ran off with- 
out tiring; the second, James Black, a ship carpenter of 
Beaufort, fired upon the advancing enemy and was imme- 
diately bayoneted, and died of his wounds. Captain 
Mathews's quarters were surrounded, and every man of 
his company made prisoners. Captain Barnwell, when 
also called upon to surrender, inquired what quarter they 
should have. "No quarter to rebels," was the reply. 
Then said Captain Barnwell, " Defend yourselves." Then 
a British sergeant called out, "Surrender, and you shall 
have honorable quarter." Barnwell demanded by what 
authority he offered quarter. "I am but a sergeant in 
command," was the answer, "but my word is as good as 
any oflicer's in his Majesty's service." On this Captain 
Barnwell and his men surrendered their arms, whereupon 
they were immediately set U{)on and bayoneted, most of 
the com[)any falling killed or wounded. Robert Barn- 
well and a Mr. Barnes each received seventeen bayonet 
wounds. Mr. Barnwell was left apparently dead, but by 
the unremitting kindness and attentions of Mrs. Robert 
Gibbes, who lived on the adjoining plantation, he finally 
recovered, and lived to occu[)y distinguished positions in 
the State for which at this time he came so near losing his 
life. With his two elder brothers, John and Edward, 
after the fall of Charlestown, he was confined in a British 
prison ship.' 

J Johnson's Ti'aditions, 182, 185. 



398 HISTOUY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

While General Pr(^vost lay near the town several armed 
vessels brought him supplies from Savannah. To intercept 
this communication Captain William Hall, in the brig 
Notre Dame, Captain Tryon, in the brig Beaufort, Captain 
Anthony, in the brig Bellona, and some other private 
armed vessels put to sea under the direction of the navy 
board. They fell in with seven British vessels near 
Stono, two of which were taken and brought safe into 
Charlestown ; one was blown up, the rest escaped. 

About the same time sixty grenadiers of the British 
arm}', with two field-pieces and musketry, attacked the 
American schooner Rattlesnake from the banks of the Stono. 
Her gallant comma]Kler, Frisbie, repulsed the assailants 
with the loss of their captain and the greater part of his 
men; but finding it impossible to escape with his vessel, 
set her on fire and conducted his wounded men with the 
rest of his crew safely through the country, though in pos- 
session of the enemy, to the American camp at Bacon's 
bridge.-^ 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution, vol. II, 71, 72. 



CHAPTER XIX 

1779 

Count D'Estaing, as we have seen, upon abandoning 
the expedition against Rhode Island, had put into Boston. 
Having refitted his ships there on the 3d of November, 

1778, he sailed for the West Indies. There he had been 
more successful, having wrested from the British the 
islands of St. Vincent, in June, and Grenada, in July, 

1779. After remaining some time at Grenada for the 
purpose of settling the government, he had sailed with 
his tleet for Cape Francois in Hispaniola. 

The post at Beaufort, established by Provost, was secure 
ajjainst attack so lonef as the British maintained their 
superiority by sea, and so long as that post was maintained 
General Lincoln could not even occupy his former quar- 
ters at Purrysburg without danger of being enclosed 
between the British troops at Savannah and those at 
Beaufort. On the other hand, if the British lost their 
superiority b}' sea, the division of their force into two 
parts would render each of them more vulnerable. Moved 
by such considerations Governor Rutledge, General Lin- 
coln, and Monsieur Plombard, the French consul at 
Charlestown, severally wrote letters to the Count 
D'Estaing, wdio by this time had arrived at Cape Fran- 
9(tis, in which they represented to him the state of affairs 
in the Southern States, and pointed out to him the advan- 
tage wliich might be expected should lie during the huni- 
cane months in the West Indies visit the American coast 

309 



400 HISTORY OF S0(:TH CAROLINA 

with his fleet and cooperate with General Lincoln in the 
recovery of Georgia. 

D' Postal ng, having discretionary orders from his court 
for such cooperation, flushed with his success at Granada, 
indulged the ambitious but vain hope of being able not 
only to sweep the American coast with his superior fleet, 
but by acting in conjunction with the Americans to reduce 
the different posts occupied by the British troops within 
the limits of the revolted provinces, and thereby put an 
end to the war, even during the present campaign. He 
accordingly sailed forthwith and dispatched to Charles- 
town two ships of the line as soon as he got through the 
Windward Passage to announce his approach, and with the 
rest of his fleet, consisting of twenty ships of the line, 
two ships of fift}^ guns, and eleven frigates having on 
board a considerable force, arrived on the coast of Georgia 
about the beginning of September. So sudden and unex- 
pected was his appearance that the British ship Experi- 
ment of fifty guns and two store ships under convoy fell 
in with the French fleet off the bar of Savannah, and were 
of course taken. The ArieU of twenty-four guns, which 
had been on a cruise off Charlestown bar, shared the same 
fate.i 

In the meanwhile the General Assembly met again in 
July, and Lincoln readily gave leave of absence to Moul- 
trie, who was a senator for the parishes of St. Philip and 
St. Michael, and to all officers of the army who were mem- 
bers of it, to attend. Lideed, he desired all of them to do 
so in the hope that upon the floor of the Assembly they 
might represent the difficulties of keeping up the army 
and the folly of depending upon the militia; that it was 
impossible to keep the lalter in the field; and that unless 
some other method could be devised to raise an army, the 
' Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 121, 123. 



IN THK n EVOLUTION 401 

country must be given up.^ But notwithstanding the 
piesence of Moultrie and his officers, all that was done 
for the defence of the State was the passage of an act to 
recruit the regular regiments already organized, offering 
increased bounties, and to make new militia regulations. 
The most tliat could have been accomplished by this act — 
had the inducements been sufficient to effect its purpose 
— was the filling up the six Continental regiments and 
Colonel Horry's Regiment of Dragoons, which would 
have given but five thousand men. The act then went 
on to divide the whole militia of the State into three 
classes, one of which should be required to hold them- 
selves in readiness to march to such place as they should 
be ordered, to do duty for two months from the time of 
tlu'ir joining headquarters or arriving at the place of their 
destination, at the expiration of Avhich it was provided 
that they should be promptly relieved by another class, 
who sliould also do duty for two months, at the expiration 
of which they should in turn be relieved b}^ the third 
class, and so on in rotation. The commanding officer, it 
was provided, might detain any such class ten days over 
and above these two months, and no longer in any case 
whataoei'er 1"^ Such were the inadequate provisions made 
for a war of independence by a State struggling for its 
existence. Five thousand men were to be hired, if pos- 
sible, by high bounties, to tight for liberty; but in no 
case whatsoever were the militia to be kept in the field 
longer than two months and ten days. No matter that a 
siege was in progress or a battle imminent at the expira- 
tion of seventy days, they were to be discharged. So far 
from adding to the efficiency of the militia this act really 
reduced the time during which the militia could be kept in 

' Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II. 29. 

2 Statutes at Large of So. Ca., vol. IV, 502. 

VOL. III. — 2 D 



402 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the field. For by the act of the 13th of February before, 
the Governor was given authority when a sister State was 
invaded to order a draft of one-third of the militia of the 
State, who were to remain so long as the service might re- 
quire, not exceeding three months at any one time, unless a 
relief had been ordered and on their march, in which case 
they were required to remain till such relief arrived.^ 
The term of the service of the militia was thus reduced, 
not extended, and their el'ficiency that much lessened. 

After the battle of Stono, Lincoln establislied his little 
army at Sheldon, some fifteen or twenty miles from Beau- 
fort. Nothing of interest transpired while he, with the 
Governor, was waiting to hear from D'Estaing except 
some very successful scouting by Sergeant Jasper. Jasper 
was as intelligent and enterprising as he was brave. He 
possessed not only the dashing gallantry Avhich he exhib- 
ited when he leapt from the bastion of Fort Moultrie to 
take up the flag and replace it on the parapet amidst the 
storm of shot and shell from the British fleet on the 28th 
of June, 1776, but the cool, calm courage, the first requi- 
site of a scout. Moultrie had great confidence in him, and 
when in the field gave him occasionally a roving commis- 
sion, allowing him to take out with him six men of liis 
own selection, at a time. He often went out in this way, 
and sometimes returned with prisoners before his absence 
was observed. At one time he went into the British lines 
at Savannah and delivered himself up as a deserter, com- 
plaining of the ill usage he received in the American 
camp. The British, who had heard of his heroic conduct 
and character, strange to say readily accepted his story 
and gladly received and caressed him. Jasper seems to 
have enjoyed their hosi)itality, for he remained with tliem 
eight days, and then, liaving tlioroughly informed him- 
1 Statutes at Lar<je of So. Ca., vo\. IV, 4G6. 



IN THE KEVOLUTIUN 403 

self of their situation, strength, and intentions, quietly 
returned to his friends with the information he had 
obtained.^ 

About the first of Se[)tember an officer came up to 
the town from Count D'Estaing's fleet, then off Charles- 
l )wn bar, to inform General Lincoln that the Count 
was ready to cooperate with him in the reduction of 
Savannah, and at the same time to urge the necessity 
(»f dispatch, as he could not remain long on the coast at 
that season of the year. The news caused great excite- 
ment, and the legislature, which was still in session, 
issuing paper mone}', raising taxes, regulating auctions, 
and laying embaigoes, adjourned, that the military mem- 
bers might return to their commands. The Governor and 
Council and the military men joined heartily in expedit- 
ing everything that was necessary; and boats were sent to 
the French fleet to assist in taking the guns and stores on 
shore. Every one, says Moultrie, was cheerful and sure of 
success; no one doubted that there was anything more to 
do than to march up to Savannah and demand a surrender. 
Tile militia was drafted, and volunteers joined readily, 
to be present at the expected surrender, and in hopes of 
seeing the British march out and deliver up their arms, 
lint alas! adds Moultrie, it turned out a bloody affair, and 
we were repulsed from the British lines with a loss of 
eight or nine hundred men killed and wounded; and he 
continues: "I think I may say that the militia volunteers 
were much disappointed, as I supi»ose they did not go 
with the expectation of storming linei^. I was jjleased 
when I was informed that in general they behaved well ; 
a:id they ccnild truly say they had been in a severe fire." 

The British connnanders in Georgia were not apprised 
of the arrival of Count D'Estaing until the 4th of Sep- 
* Moultrie's Mcnioirs, vol. II, 24. 



404 HISTOKV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tember, when his whole force, consisting of forty-one siiil, 
was seen to the southward of Tybee plying to windward. 
Information was immedately sent to General Provost, and 
measures were at once taken for increasing the fortilica- 
tions at Savannah and putting the town in a proper con- 
dition of defence. The garrison at Sunbury, under 
Lieutenant Colonel Cruger, was witlidrawn and orders 
were dispatched to Beaufort for Lieutenant Colonel 
Maitland, with the troops, and Captain Christian of the 
navy, with the ships and galleys under his command, 
to repair in all haste to Savannah.^ 

On the 5th General Lincoln ordered all officers and 
soldiers to join their regiments, and on the 8th the Con- 
tinentals were drawn from the forts and their places taken 
by the militia. The scarcity of arms and ammunition 
made it necessary to furnish them to the militia from 
the arsenals of South Carolina, and a detachment of the 
Georgia Continental troops commanded by General Lach- 
lan Mcintosh was ordered to take charge of them and 
march to Augusta. There Pulaski was ordered to join 
Mcintosh, who with the infantry and cavahy was tlien 
directed to march toward Savannah in advance of the 
army under General Lincoln to open communication with 
the French. Lincoln proceeded to take command of the 
army at Slieldon on the 12th, leaving Moultrie in com- 
mand at Charlestown.2 

On the 9th of September the French fleet came to 
anchor off Savannah bar, but a:, their large ships could 
not come near the shore, a landing could only be effected 
by small boats, which were sent from Cliarlestown for the 
purpose. This o(;casioned delay, so that it was not un- 
til the 12th that D'Estaing's troops Avere got ashore at 

1 Steadman's Am. War. vol. 11, 1*28. 

2 McCalPs Histonj of Georgia, vol. II, 243, 247. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 405 

Beaulieu in Ossabaw Sound, an inlet of the sea some 
miles south of the Savannah River. As soon as the de- 
barkation of the French troops — about thiee thousand in 
number — was completed, Count D'Estaing moved against 
Savannah, witliout waiting for the junction of the forces 
under Lincoln, and, on the 16th, in a most offensive 
manner, demanded the surrender of Provost in the name 
of his most Christian Majesty the King of France, with- 
out any reference to his allies, the Americans. In his 
summons he vaunted in terms of extravagance the magni- 
tude of his force, the valor of his troops, who had so lately 
stormed the fortifications of Granada and achieved the 
conquest of that island, and threatened to make General 
Prevost answerable in his own person should he persist in 
making a fruitless defence. This conduct of D'Estaing 
aroused at once the same jealousy on the part of the South 
Carolinians as Lafayette's scheme, in 1778, for an attack 
upon Canada, through the joint operations of the United 
States and France, had excited in the minds of Washing- 
ton and of Henry Laurens, then President of Congress.^ 
What if, having thus possessed himself of Savannah, 
D'Estaing should hold it for the French King, in whose 
name he demanded its surrender? Upon a remonstrance, 
liowever, it is said, having been made b}^ General Lincoln, 
the Coniit gave an explanation which was accepted at least 
as satisfactory;^ but there was still suspicion on the part 
of the Carolinians and arrogance on the part of the French. 
General Prdvost, to whom it was of the utmost impor- 
tance to gain time, returned a civil message to Count 
D'Estaing, acknowledging the receipt of the summons 
and desiring twenty-four hours to consider an answer and 
to prepare tlie terms on whicli a surrender might be made, 

1 Writiiu/s of W'ashinrjtnu, vol. VI, 100; Hildreth, vol. Ill, 270. 

2 Steadman's^lm. IFar, vol. II, 125 ; Meinuirs of the ]Var of 1776, 137. 



406 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

should that be his ultimate determination. D'Estaing, 
without doubting but that the terror of his name had 
caused the British hearts to tremble, and expecting noth- 
ing less than a surrender of the town at the expiration of 
the time, granted the request without any difficulty. ^ But 
Prdvost had no idea of surrendering; he was negotiating 
for time to allow Lieutenant Colonel Maitland to join 
him with the garrison from Beaufort — and in this hope 
he was not disappointed. 

Lieutenant Colonel Maitland, who had commanded the 
British at the battle of Stono, a very able and enterprising 
officer, responded at once to the summons of Prevost to 
join him; and after struggling with difficulties, during 
some parts of the route, which to one less determined 
would have appeared insurmountable, arrived at Savannah 
before the expiration of the time with the best part of his 
detachment, amounting to eight hundred veteran troops. 
As the French were in possession of the lower part of the 
river, to effect a junction Maitland was obliged to take 
his troops in boats through the marshes by an inland 
watercourse called Watts' Cut, which for two miles was 
so shoal that the men, wading up to their waists, had to 
drag the boats by main force through the mud. Maitland 
himself during this expedition was fatally ill with a 
bilious fever; but this undaunted and accomplished 
officer, ill unto death as he was, braving all difficulties, 
made good his way to the Savannah River, where, taking 
his boats above the anchorage ground of the French fleet. 



1 The friends of Sir James Wright, the hiyal Governor of Georgia, 
claim that it was by his determined zeal and spirit the defence of his 
capital was made "one of tlie most brilliant events of the war in the 
South." This defence, it is also affirmed, would not have been made 
but for his vote in the council of war, which decided upon it. The Am. 
Loyalists (Sabine), 727. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 407 

lie entered the town in time to allow Provost to send a 
nIc'^^s;lge of defiance instead of a proposal to surrender. 
The rest of the lieaufurt garrison, which for want of boats 
could not be transported, remained with the ships and 
galleys under the connnaiid of Captain Christian of the 
Royal navy, and their retreat being cut off, they took a 
new position in Callibogie Sound, where, by erecting 
batteries on the shore, they made such a strong disposi- 
tion for defence that neither the French nor Americans 
attempted to molest them during the subsequent siege of 
Savannah. 

The safe arrival of so considerable a reenforcement, and 
that, too, of chosen troops, but above all, says Steadmaii, 
the presence of this officer who commanded them, sick as 
he was, but in whose zeal, ability, and militar}- experience 
so much conlidence was deservedly placed by the army, 
inspired the garrison of Savannah with new animation. 
An answer was returned to Count D'Estaing that the 
town would be defended to the last extremity. Thus was 
D'Estaing's opportunity lost. Had he attacked the garri- 
son at once when he appeared before Savannah, Pidvost 
must have been taken with his army. 

Governor Rutledge made great exertions to get out the 
militia, and succeeded so far that with those of Georgia 
and the South Carolina Continental regiments, Lincoln's 
force amounted to 4000; with these Lincoln lay at 
McMillen's, three miles from Savannah, from the 17th to 
the 28(1 of Se{)tember, when he joined the French and 
encaniped before the town. The allied army thus num- 
bered about 7000 men. The British garrison was about 
2500. > 

From the 23d of September the allied army was employed 

1 Moultrie's Mpmnirs, vol. II, 41 ; }fi'moirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 
137; SUadman's Am. War. vol. II. 1-27. 



408 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAUOLINA 

ill imiking fascines and building batteries. The ordnance 
intended tor the siege was brought up, and in twelve days 
fifty-three pieces of battering guns and fourteen mortars 
were mounted. On the other hand, the zeal and ardor of 
the British garrison, under the inspiration of Maitland's 
arrival, was increased, and new defences were daily con- 
structed under the judicious eye and masterly direction of 
an able engineer. Captain jNIoncrieff. When the French 
first landed, not more than ten or twelve pieces of artillery 
appeared upon the fortifications of Savannah; but so inces- 
santly did the garrison labor in strengthening and enlarg- 
ing the old works, and in erecting new redoubts and 
batteries, that before the conclusion of the siege nearl}^ 
one hundred guns were in position. While thus himself 
engaged Provost, who thoroughly understood D'Estaing's 
character, was well content to allow his operations to take 
the form of a siege rather than of a storm. He counted 
not only upon the impatient character of the French com- 
mander and of his unwillingness to subordinate his own 
voluntary movement to the cooperation of the allies, but 
also upon the real danger to the French fleet and army, 
separated as they were from each other, from the active 
and daring operations of the British nav}-, as well as from 
tempests usual in the autumn and so often destructive to 
ships on the coast. Provost did not waste his force in 
attempts, therefore, to impede the advance of the allies; 
only two sorties were made during the siege, from neither 
of which did au}^ material consequence ensue. 

All of the guns of the allies opened on the 4th of Octo- 
ber, and upon this Prevost asked that the women and eliil- 
dren might be permitted to leave tlie town and embark 
upon board of vessels in the river, wliicli should be placed 
under the protection of Count D'Estaing, and intimated 
that his own wife and family would be the first to profit 



IN THE II EVOLUTION 409 

by the indulgence. This request, dictated by the claims 
of human it}', and in no way injurious to the besiegers, 
was rejected by Lincoln and D'Estaing.^ Fortunately, 
however, for the inhabitants, as well as the garrison, 
altliough an incessant cannonade from so many pieces of 
artillery was continued from the 4th to the 9th of Octo- 
ber, less injury was done to the .houses in the town than 
might have been expected; few lives were lost, and the 
defences were in no respect materially damaged. 

Provost was wise in preserving his full strength for the 
decisive hour. It came in time; already Count D'Estaing 
had spent one month in an enterprise which, from infor- 
mation he had received at Cape Fran9ois, he calculated 
would have detained him scarcely longer than his conquest 
of Granada — certainly not more than ten days. Nor were 
Governor Rutledge and the French consul mistaken when 
they had so represented to him. Any five hours before 
the junction of Colonel Maitland had been sufficient to 
liave taken Savannah ;2 and even after this there can he* 
little doubt that if the French and American armies had 
marched into Savannah when they arrived on the 17th, 
they would easily have carried the town.^ But the dela}'' 
in the face of the excellent officers and veterans of the 
British army was fatal. The French naval officers, too, 
became anxious for the safety of the fleet and desirous 
of changing their station. Then the affairs of the West 
Indies, to which in D'Estaing's estimation these w^ere but 
secondary, began to demand his attention. He accordingly 
informed Lincoln that the siege must be raised forthwith 
or a storm attempted. Lincoln had no alternative. IIow- 

1 Mt-moirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 138; Hist, of Am. War, 
Steadman, vol. II, 127 ; Annual Iter/ister, vol. XXII, 211. 
■^ Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 139. 
3 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 42. 



410 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ever sincerely he must have wished for a continuance of 
the siege, safe and sure as it was, and liaving the assur- 
ance of the engineers that it would require but ten days 
more to work into the enemy's lines, he could not hesitate 
to abandon it and to put everything to the hazard, rather 
tlian give up the enterprise entirely; and so a council of 
war, called by D'Estaing, decided. It is said, upon un- 
reliable authority however, that a sentinel on duty at the 
door of the tent overheard the decision of the council and 
deserted in the darkness of the night, carrying to the 
British the plan of attack. ^ 

The town of Savannah is situated on the southern bank 
of the river of the same name. Its northern front was 
secured by the broad river, and, at the time of the siege, 
its western side was also covered by a thick swamp and 
woody morass communicating with the river above the 
town. The other sides were originally open toward the 
country, which in front of them, for several miles, was level 
end entirely cleared of woods. But they were at this time 
covered with a line of works, the right and left defended 
by redoubts, and the centre by seamen's batteries in the 
front, with impalements and traverses thrown up in the 
rear to protect the troops from the fire of the besiegers. 
The whole extent of the w^orks was surrounded with abatis. 
The redoubts to the right toward the swamp were three 
in number. That in the centre was garrisoned by two 
companies of loyal militia, with the North Carolina regi- 
ment of Loyalists, under Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton, to 
support them. Captains Raworth and Wylie, of the South 
Carolina corps of King's Rangers, were posted in the 
redoubt on the right. Captain Tawse, witli his corps of 
provincial dragoons, dismounted, in that on the left, 
called the Spring Hill redoubt, supported by a regiment 
1 Life of Marion (Wcenis), 31. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 411 

of Smith Ciiroliiia Loyalists, under the command of Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Thomas Browne, the same who had been 
tarred and feathered for his adherence to the King in 
177.").^ 'I'o the right of the wliole was a sailors' battery 
of nine-pounders covered by a company of the British 
legion, under the command of Captain Stewart. Between 
the centre and the Spring Hill redoubt was another of 
these batteries, under the direction of Captain Manby, 
behind which were posted the grenadiers of the Sixteenth 
Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel 
Glazier, with the marines Avhich had been landed from the 
ships of war. The whole of the force on the right of the 
lines was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Mait- 
land, upon whom was to fall the brunt of the assault. On 
the left of the lines were two redoubts, strongly con- 
structed with a heavy framework of the green, spongy 
wood of the palmetto, tilled up with sand and mounted 
with lieavy cannons; one of these was commanded by 
Lieutenant Colonel Cruger and the other by Major James 
Wright, 2 having under him the Georgia Loyalists. Behind 
the impalements and traverses in the centre of the works 
were posted the two battalions of the Seventy-first Regi- 
ment, two regiments' of Hessians, the New York Volun- 
teers, a battalion of Skinner's Brigade, one of De Lancey's, 
and the light infantry of the army, under the command 
of Major Graham, all of which corps were ready to act as 
circumstances should require, and to support any part of 
the lines that might be attacked. 

To facilitate the attack of the besiegers, Major L'Enfant, 
with five men, on the morning of the 8th of October, 

1 Captain Alexander Campbell Wylie, a captain in the King's Rangers. 
The Am. Lai/alists (Sabine), 7;J0. We can find no other mention of 

Captains Haworth or Tawse. 

2 Son of Sir James Wright, Royal Governor of Georgia, and grandson 
of Chiif Justice Wright of South Carolina. 



1 1 li 



IIIMKHtV (tV H(M;ril rAKOUNA 



uilv>iii('.(;(i iiJidri a li(;!i,vy I'ik; froiii IIm; ^hivIhow Id kiiMlh; 
tlid uIiiiUh; hill, \,\u; iliitnpticHH of tin; air iiiid tJic irioiHtiiK; 
of llic. j^Mccii w<»o(l, (»r uliicli lln- ;i,l)ii,l,iH was (•()iii|)()H('(|, 
|iic,v<uilc(l l,|i(! MUc.c.cHH ol IIiIh hold iiii(l(!rtal<iii^'. 

Till! iiioraMM ii|)())i I.Ik! UriliHli lij-dil, Hlrrh-liin^f I'loiii l.lii! 
ri via' ami cuvcM'in^ a (|iiarlri ol I he I own, )^'av(! a (;()iic.(!al(!<l 
a|)|)i'()!i,c,li Iroiii a HJiik in I. lie ^iniiiid aloiii^r itn inar^Mii Icad- 
iiij^' l,o IIk! JtriliMli ii).diL ThiM hollow way ;^'av(! ^w.nl 
ad vuiil;i|r(r |,o \\n- aMHailanlH, as it hroii^lit. tiiiMii (doHo to 
till! woiKh iiii|iitr(;(!i vitd and iinin jiitttd. TIiimi IIk; Hiiiall 
dlHtaiKU) to piiHH over wliitii diHcovriiMJ and cxiiohi;!) to tin; 
(iiMtiiiy'H lii'ii diniiniHlidd ^riMilly the. loss to he, HitHtaini;d 
Itrford tlicy rcaclird iIk* ditrh. Tu'vomL wiih I'lilly awaio 
that lliin was liiH vnliMMahh; |j(»int and to ho cHiiiudally 
^niai'dc.d, aii<l ho it wan that Im; placed tlieri; hin Ixtst troojis, 
iiiidri Imh hoHt oITkmm', ('oloind Mil i I land ; and it will hi; 
ohsiM'ved that i\.\iui\ijf his hc.st troojis, then, In; liinkrd Ihi; 
l\iiij^'''H (lai'olina Jfiin^^ri'H, coniiiiandi'd hy ( 'oloind Krowiic, 
no doiiht ;.|i II hnrniii;'; to avciii^n; his hnilal trciitnicnt^ in 
An^Mista hiiir yeaiM hid'ore. TIk; Haiiie reason which l(!<l 
I'l/ivost HO Htronjdy to j^'iiard this |iortioii of his line, 
pointed it out to I )'l<jHtaiii^'' and iiiiicoln as the point id 
att.a(d<. 

On the eveiiin^r ol' the Hih, (iitneiid Linccdn isHiUMJ his 
oi'dei'H for the hattle. 'I'lie inhiiit ry di^sl iniwl I'oi' th(Mittaid< 
Wel'O to he divided into two Imdies: the lirst. iMiiiiposeil ol' 
the li^lit ti'oopH, iind(M' the <'oiniiiaiid ol' liieiitcnatit ( '(doiiid 
Laiiieiis ; ' I he second (d' the ( 'out iiieiital hat I al ions and the 
lirst. h;ill;ilioti ol' I lir ( 'hailcslowii militia; the wlioh^ were 
til parade a.t one o'ldock on tin* nioniin;^' ol the '.Mh. The 
^niards id' the camp were (o he lornicd of the invalids, who 
were charj^n-d In Keep the liies hniiiiiiif as usual. The 



' 'I'lirHr MM'ii wi'i'r ('iiiii|i(iiii'il iif ('utu|iiiMli'tH ih'laclii'il frmii l.lii< ('iiiiliiiiMi- 
liil ri'^'jiiii'iil.H, 



IN riiK i:r.V(H,i;TioN 4|:{ 

cdViilry vvcin to luiuidti iit tiio Hiiini! liiiir us Uii; inraiitiy 
iiiid to follow tlic Irl'l. I'tiliiiiin ol' llu; I'Vcticli troojtM, to jn-c- 
(■('(jr llir (iiliiiiiii ol till- A iiirricaii liglil hnojii, iiiid wv.m 
t(» ciKlcavni lo |)(;iM;tiiit.«! till! (ilMMiiy'M liiicM lowaid lllir 
ii\ri. 'I'lir y\ iiin ic.aii aililluiy vvcjK! to follow tin- I'lmrli 
ol llial arm. IIki vvIioIo woio t-o \m icady hy I Ik- limr 
a|t|)oiiit(>(|, \\\[\i \\u' MttiioHt Hiltilici! and |iiiiir| u:i 1 1 1 \ , <iiid 
to inaK-li llic iii.slaiil ( oiint. D'M.staiii^r and ( iciinal Liiirolii 
hlioiild ordtr. 'I'lic, iiiilit iii of I Im; liist and mccoimI liri^rjid(.H, 
(ii'iin,)! W illianison, aii<l llir snoiid lial I.iIkhi of \\^i•. 
( 'liaricHlown iiiililia wcit; t.o jiaiadn iiimUm' llir coinniand 
of (m-iiciiiI Ilil|^frl'. I''iv(; lilllldrcd of llirni Wfli! lo Iw. 
diaftrd, and tlic niiiii iiid( i |o |^o iiilo llic I icikIicm. Willi 
till- liv*; liiiiidit.d drafted (irnnal I Iii^rr waH to iiiaicli to 
iIh- l(dl. (d tlir enemy's Win'.H and remain tluMir as ni-ai' as 
|io.ssil>le without diM<;ovia'in)^ his jioMilion nnlil four 
o'(do(dv in llic mninin;^, ill wliicli Imiir llic Iiohjim in ihc 
ti'cnchi'H wci'c to advance! to the atlacl< iijion the enemy.' 
Then (leiieial IIiij^om' was to move and make his att.a<d{ hh 
ncai iIh' river as ixtHsihie, (ienci;i,| ijii^fcr was (•har|(ed 
that llioii^rji his att)i<d< was intended only as a feint, yet 
hhoiild a favoialile o|i|)oit unity offer, he was to im|irov(i it 
and |)n.Hh into the town. Tlie Sprin;^' Hill h;illcrv, ^rar- 
lisoned hy South ('arolina Loyalists, was to he the main 
point of atta(;k, nnd llu; iissai hints werir to he tlic^ ('harles- 
lown niilitiiiand ihc Sonth ( 'arolina ( 'onliniMitals. The 
main hattle as it lia|i|iene(l uiis IIiom lo he foii^rht hy 
('ai'olinians on holh sides. The at lack on the ri^^dit was 
t«t he miide in two cidnmns, the lirst cd' these tMilnnniH 

' III MiirNliiill'H f.i/r iif WiiHliiinitiiii, vi>l, IV, l.'.l, II. Im Mfilil : "On 
n-tlrlii^ frniii tlic hIi'^)' of Siivuiiiiiih llir VlrKlnlii Diiikiiiiiih iiml lurmilry 
wi-nt ilctiM'linl In AiikiimIii." Wc liiivd tin ol.lii-r iiiriiliiiii nf Vlr^liilii 
trnii|m lit. till' Nif^ti of MitViiiiimli, l.liiiii In tlic Sn. dt. luiil Am. (>rn. 
(htxrtfr i>t ()c|iiti«-r 27, wIktii III (lilt IInI, of kllliil iiinl woiiikIi'iI wn lliul 
itiiioii^ tlif wiiiiiiili'ii " Vli'Kiiiiii K'-vIch" Mriilriijiiil I I'lukir mul Wiilkrr. 



414 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLiNA 

destined to attack the Spring Hill redoubt in front, 
commanded b}' Count D'Estaing in person, assisted by 
General Lincoln; while the other, commanded by Count 
Dillon, was to move along the edge of the swamp, pass 
the redoubts, and get into the rear of the British lines. 

The morning of the 9th came, but the attack, instead of 
being made at four o'clock, was delayed until it was clear 
daylight. General Huger found a rice-field through which 
he had to wade, and as he emerged he was received with 
music and a warm fire of artillery and musketry, upon 
which, losing a few men, his militia retreated faster, it is 
said, than they had advanced. Count Dillon's column 
mistook its wa}' from the darkness of the morning and was 
entangled in the swamp, from which it was unable to 
extract itself until broad daylight appeared and exposed 
it to the view of the garrison and the fire from tlie British 
batteries. The fire Avas so hot and so well directed that 
this column was not able even to form. The darkness, 
however, which had caused Count Dillon to lose his way 
in the swamp, so befriended the column of D'Estaing and 
Lincoln that it Avas not discerned until it had approached 
very closely the Spring Hill redoubt. 

Here the battle of the day was fought. D'Estaing, with 
3500 French troops, and Lincoln, with 600 South Caro- 
lina Continentals and 350 Charlestown militia, advanced 
to storm the works. As soon as discovered they were 
received with a continued blaze of musketry from the 
redoubt and a destructive cross fire from the adjoining 
batteries, which mowed down whole ranks as they 
advanced. But regardless of the fatal fire from the cov- 
ered enemy the column, nnappalled, with Lincoln and 
D'Estaing at its head, Mcintosh being in immediate com- 
mand of the Continentals, forced the abatis. From the 
numbers which fell, the head of the colunni was several 



tN TIIK U EVOLUTION 4l5 

times thrown into confusion, but the places of those who 
fell being- instantly supplied by others, it moved on until it 
reached the redoubt, where the contest became more fierce 
and desperate. The brave Captain Tawse of the South 
Carolina Loyalists fell in defending the gate of his re- 
doubt, witli his sword i)lunged in the body of the third 
assailant he had slain with his own hand. The parapet 
was reached both by tlie French and the Carolinians, and 
each planted their standards upon it. 

The second South Carolina Continentals had had the 
post of honor in the defence of Fort Moultrie on the 28th 
of June, 1776, and a few days after the battle Mrs. Barnard 
Elliott had presented to it an elegant pair of colors, and 
in doing so had said: "Gentlemen — Soldiers. Your 
gallant behavior in defence of your country entitles you 
to the highest honors ! Accept these two standards as a 
reward justly due to your regiment; and I make not the 
least doubt but that under heaven's protection you will 
stand by them as long as they can wave in the air of lib- 
erty." Her anticipations were fully justified. During 
this assault the colors she had presented were both 
planted in the British lines. This regiment, now under 
Lieutenant Colonel Marion, was one that reached the 
parapet of the Spring Hill redoubt. Lieutenant Bush, 
supported b}' Sergeant Jasper, carried one of the colors. 
Lieutenant Gray, supported by Sergeant McDonald, the 
other. Bush, being wounded early in the action, delivered 
his standard to Jas[)er for its better security, but did not 
leave the field. Jasper, who himself was already wounded, 
on receiving a second and fatal shot, restored it to Bush, 
wlio, on taking it again, received another, and this a mor- 
tal wound, and fell into the ditch with the colors under 
him, where they were found by the enemy. Lieutenant 
Gray, who had the other colore, was likewise mortally 



41G HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLIXA 

wounded, but Sergeant McDonald planted them on tlie 
redoubt, and succeeded in carrying them off in safety 
when the retreat was ordered. The regiment lost also 
Major Charles INIotte early in the action. 

The conflict for the possession of the redoubt continued 
to be obstinately maintained on both sides. It was the 
turning-point of the battle. All was lost to the British 
could this lodgement have been maintained; but Lieuten- 
ant Colonel Maitland, seizing the critical moment, ordered 
the grenadiers of the Sixteenth Regiment with the 
marines to move forward and charge the assailing col- 
umn, already staggering under the obstinate resistance 
it had met at the redoubt and the slaughter which had 
been made by the artillery from the different batteries, 
and now also from an armed brig in the river. This fresh 
body, under Lieutenant Colonel Glazier, assumed, it is 
said, with joy the arduous task of recovering the lost 
ground. With unimpaired strength it fell upon the head 
of the victorious column under General Mcintosh, which, 
though piei'cing the British line in one point, could not 
spread along the parapet. The victory was suppressed 
in its birth. The triumphant standards of the French 
and of the Carolinians were torn down and the assailants 
repulsed. Many of these, thrown back into the ditch 
and huddled together without order, were unable to 
use their arms and were unmercifully slaughtered. 
The remnant, finally driven out from the ditch, left 
their dead and wounded behind them. About the time 
Maitland was preparing this critical movement, Pulaski, 
at the head of two hundred horse, attempted to make 
his way between the redoubts, and thus get into the 
rear of the enemy; but charging at a full gallop he re- 
ceived a mortal wound from one of the galleys in the 
river. Repulsed in every point of attack, after they had 



IN THE REVOLUTION 417 

stood the enemy's fire for fifty-five minutes, the allied 
generals drew off their troops. The French lost very 
lieavily. Count D'Estaing himself was twice wounded, 
•and lost in killed and wounded 337 men. The South 
Carolina Continentals lost 250 men out of 600 carried 
into action.^ The Charlestown militia, though in the 
hottest of the fight, it is said, lost but six wounded, and 
the intrepid Captain She[)herd killed. 

After the repulse the idea of taking Savannah by regular 
approach was again for some time renewed, but the naval 
ofiicers of Count D'Estaing were uneasy at the situation 
of his fleet and pressed his departure.^ He remained long 
enougli, however, to allow an opportunity for the expres- 
sion of the mutual dislike between the French Jind the 
Carolinians. Tlie French affected to despise their allies, 
styled them insurgents in common conversation, and even 
in written memorials, and attempted to throw upon Lin- 
coln the blame of the refusal to allow the women and chil- 
dren in Savannah to return from the garrison. While, on 
the other hand, the Carolinians resented their arrogance 
and criticised their military conduct. Major Thomas 

' The exact loss in the South Carolina troops is not definitely settled, 
Tlie following are the estimates : Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 
142, 240; So. Ca. ami Am. Gen. Gazette, October 27, 1779, 250; Kam- 
s:iy's Hist, of Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 40, 257; Hist. Am. War 
(Steadinan), vol. II, 131, 264; Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 41, 457. 

List of officers killed and wounded : — 

Killi'd : Majors Motte, Wise; Captains Shepherd, Donnom ; Lieuten- 
ants Ilutne, Wickham, Bush, Bailey. 

Woumlrd : Brigadier General Count Pulaski (mortally); Major L'En- 
fant ; Captains Hnux, Rendelo, Farrar, Giles, Smith, Warren, Hogan, 
Davis, De Trcville ; Lieutenants Gray, Petrie, Gaston, De Saussure 
(mortally). Parker, Walker, Boraud, Wade, Wilkie, Vieland, Parsons. 

Volunteers: Mr. Jones, killed; Mr. Lloyd and Mr, John Owens, 
icounded. 

* Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 42. 

VOL. HI. — 2 E 



418 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAUOLIXA 

Pinckney, wlio was on Lincoln's staff and .accompanied 
D'Eslaing by his request, had informed the Count of tlie 
condition of Maitland's detachment, and of tlie ea.se witli 
which it could be captured; but the Count was too great 
a man to receive advice from a young provincial ofiicer. 
Was he not the conqueror of Granada ? Nor could Colo- 
nel Laurens induce him to march at once upon Savannah 
before Maitland arrived. Carried away by his success in 
the West Indies, he imagined he could take Pr<jvost at his 
leisure as easily as, with a fleet and 900 men, he had 
captured Lord Macartney and his garrison of 300, of whom 
only 150 were regulars. But with his excitable and 
changeable disposition, upon which Prdvost had so well 
counted, he could not endure with patience the slow 
progress of a siege; and so, having allowed Prevost full 
time to put Savannah in the best possible condition for 
resistance, he broke off the siege and assumed the offen- 
sive. To this the South Carolinians were as much opposed 
as they had been in the first instance to the delaj' of the 
attack. It was easy to plead the danger to his fleet on 
the coast, but the season of the equinoctial gales had nearly 
passed, and though his fleet was soon after dispersed, 
there was at the time of the siege little more reason to 
apprehend such a gale than at any other season of the 
year. D'Estaing might go as he had come, and soon 
forget the dead he had left behind, especially as some of 
them were negroes and mulattoes from the West Lulies. 
But it was a very different matter to the Carolinians and 
Georgians, who had risen under the promise of his assist- 
ance. He left them in a much worse condition than that 
in which they were before he arrived. 

D'Estaing reembarked his troops, and on the l!Uh 
General Lincoln retreated with the Americans as far as 
Ebenezer Heights, and leaving his army there to follow 



IN THK KHVOLI'TIOX 419 

liiin lie proceeded to Charlestown. Tliere the small-pox 
broke out soon after, and thereupon the remnant of the 
militia dispersed to their homes. Thus ended a campaign 
from which much had been expected, but which had dis- 
astrously failed from the arrogance and folly of D'Estaing, 
and the want of energy of Lincoln. For however justly 
D'Estaing may he blamed for his delay in the first instance 
and his rashness in the sccontl, it must be remembered that 
he had been before Savannah seven da3's before Lincoln 
joined him with his force; and had Lincoln been moie 
pr()mj)t, and had he been in his place, the truce might have 
been rejected and the town talcen before Maitland could 
have ejffected his junction with Prevost. 



CHAPTER XX 

1780 



% 



A BRIEF, but somewhat more particular, review of the 
British operations in the Northern States since the defeat 
of the fleet and army on the 28th of June, 1776, will 
enable us the better to comprehend and appreciate those 
now undertaken in the South, and especially in South 
Carolina. 

Upon the repulse of the British fleet and army the ex- 
pedition returned to New York, where it arrived just in 
time to allow Sir Henry Clinton to take part in the battle 
of Long Island in August, 1776, and the subsequent oceu- 
j)ation of the city of New York in September. Then had 
followed the battles of White Plains, New York, 28th of 
October; Fort Washington, 16th of November; Trenton, 
26th of December, 1776, and 2d of January; and Prince- 
ton, 3d of January, 1777. The result of these and many 
other smaller affairs, however, had been indecisive. Sir 
William Howe had fought and won one great battle — that 
of Long Island — and had occupied the city of New York ; 
but notwithstanding his superiority in men and materials, 
Washington successfully confronted him in the Jerseys 
and restricted him to the immediate vicinity of New York. 

The year 1777 was one of the most momentous of the 
American Revolution. It is remarkable for great events, 
and some extraordinary as well. A grand plan of cam- 
paign had been devised and sent to London and adopted 
by the British ministry, but it was not carried out: and 
why it was abandoned had long remained a mystery, until 

420 



IX THE J; EVOLUTION 421 

I lie discovery not many years ago of tlie treason of General 
Charles Lee in a paper written by him when a prisoner in 
New York, recommending to his Majest3's commissioners, 
Lord Howe and General Sir William Howe, a plan of 
operations against his own people, which providentially 
they accepted and appear to have acted upon, to the aban- 
donment of that which had been approved by the ministry. 
From the beginning of the winter of 1776-77 General Howe 
had been sending home plans for the ensuing campaign, 
the primary object of which, repeatedly declared, was a 
junction of the two armies, — that in Canada and his own, 
— by movements at once up and down the Hudson River. 
His own movement northward, to be accompanied by an 
irru[)ti()n into Ncav England, he wrote, "would strike at 
the root of the rebellion and put those Independent Hypo- 
critics between two fires," "and open the door wide for 
the Canada army." The principal feature of these plans 
had received the approbation of the King, who, with the 
ministry. Parliament, and the nation, expected by the 
possession of the lakes and the North River to complete 
the se[)aration of the Northern and Southern colonies, and 
insure the subsequent conquest of America in detail. 
This plan was suddenly abandoned, and its abandonment 
by Sir William Howe corresponds with the date of "Mr. 
Lee's plan,i 29th of March, 1777." Lee's plan, which 

i"Mr. Lee's Plan, March 20, 1777." The Treason of Charles Lee, 
Major General, etc., by George H. Moore, librarian, New York Historical 
Society, New York, Cliarles Scribner's, 1860, particularly pp. 84-01. See 
also Gordon's .4m. Revolution, vol. II, 558 ; vol. III. 576, where it is 
intimated that the plan originated with a Penn.sylvania refugee. In 
manuscript notes upon Steadnian'.s Jlistorij, attributed to Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, is this, " I owe it to truth to say that there was not a man in the 
army except Lord Cornwallis and General Grant who did not reprobate 
the movement to the soutliward, and see the necessity of a cooperation 
with General Hurgoyne." 



422 IIISTORV OF SOUTH CAROLIXA 

it appears he luul not only the treachery, but the audacity, 
to sujjgest to the British commander while himself his 
prisoner, was that ado[)ted by Sir William Howe when he 
sailed from New York to the Delaware and made his cam- 
paign against Philadelphia. In the meanwhile Burgoyne, 
relying upon Sir William's cooperation, had begun his 
expedition down the lakes, which ended in his surrender. 
The treason of the man who would have abandoned Fort 
Moultrie on the 28th of June, 1776, had now misled Sir 
William Howe to his ruin. The battles of Brand\'wine 
and Germantowai had been fought and won by liim, and 
Philadelphia occupied; but Burgoyne's army had been 
lost. Sir William was discredited and resigned — -dis- 
credited beyond the possibility of ledemption by the vain- 
glorious and absurd Mischianza, which by contrast rather 
brought out his failure in more vivid colors.^ 

Sir Henry Clinton, who had found the w^ater too deep 

1 The famous Mischianza (or Medley) was a festival given in honor of 
Sir William Howe, by some of the British officers at Philadelphia, when 
he was about to give up his command and return to England. This 
entertainment not only far exceeded anything that had ever been seen 
in America, but rivalled the magnificent exhibition of the vainglorious 
monarch and conqueror, Louis XIV of France. All the colors of the 
army were placed in a grand avenue three hundred feet in length, with 
the King's troops between two triumphal arches fur the two brothers — 
the Admiral Lord Howe and the General Sir William Howe — to march 
along in pompous procession, followed by a numerous train of attendants, 
with seven silken knights of the blended rose and seven more of the 
burning mountain, and fourteen damsels dressed in the Turkish fashion, 
to an area of one hundred and fifty yards square, lined with the King's 
troops, to the exhibition of a tilt with tournament or mock fight of old 
chivalry in honor of those two heroes. On the top of each triumphal 
arch was the figure of fame bespangled with stars, blowing from her 
trumpet in letters of light, Tres lanriers sotit immortels. Steadman's 
Ayii. War, vol. I, 385. The unfortunate Major Andr^, at that time a 
captain, was one of the chief promoters of this absurd pageant. Life of 
Washington (Irving), vol. Ill, 403. 



IN THE KEVOLUTIOX 423 

t(> cross from Long' to Sullivan's Island on the 28th of 
June, 1770, and who — however much he may have criti- 
cised Sir William Howe's foil}' in abandoning Burgoyne 
for the campaign in the iVIiddle States — had not escaped 
censure himself for failing to afford such assistance to 
Burgoyne as he might have rendered, for he commanded 
in New York in Howe's absence, was now appointed Com- 
mander-in-chief of the British forces, and named as one of 
the commissioners under the conciliatory acts of which we 
have spoken. He had evacuated Philadelphia, and on his 
march to New York was pursued b}' Washington and 
attacked at Monmouth on the 27th of June, 1778, from 
which he only escaped b}^ the dilatoriness, if not again the 
treason, of Lee, who had been exchanged and restored to 
his command. 

Upon his return to New York Sir Henry Clinton turned 
his attention to the South, and, a§ we have seen, sent 
Colonel Campbell to cooperate wdth General Prevost from 
Florida in operations against Georgia. These operations 
had led to Provost's invasion, which came so near resulting 
in the capture of Charlestown. 

It is not surprising that Sir Henry, upon assuming the 
chief command in America, should have turned again to 
the scheme of establishing a government in the back parts 
of North and South Carolina, the inhabitants of which 
were yet believed ready to rise and welcome a restoration 
of Royal authority. Events subsequent to the attempt in 
177G had rather strengthened the belief in the feasibility 
of that undertaking, and it was with great confidence 
assumed that if the King's arms could once reach those 
regions, especially that about Cross Creek, North Carolina, 
now Fayetteville, the people there would flock to the Royal 
standard, and large reenforcements would be obtained to 
liis Majesty's forces. From that point, w-ith increased 



424 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



numbers, the Roj^il arm}' might proceed to Virginia, and 
thence on to tlie Chesapeake. This phm of carrying liis 
Majesty's arms " from South to North" — an idea, it is said, 
that the ministry had long conceived — Sir Henry now 
undertook to carry into effect. ^ The first phm of opera- 
tions, it will be observed, had been the cutting off of New 
England and New York by combined movements from 
New York and from the lakes; that had been neglected for 
a less effective one, that against Philadelphia. Now was 
to be tried another grand movement: that of "from South 
to North," combined with another favorite idea of the 
ministry, to wit, "the conquering of America by Ameri- 
cans," that is, by the reenforcements to be obtained in 
the backwoods of the Carol inas. The first step in this 
campaign was the capture and possession of the city of 
Charlestown ; and for this purpose Sir Henry Clinton Avas 
now to put forth his whole power. 

The operations of the British army in South Carolina 
during the year 1779 had disclosed at once the wealth of 
the State and its weakness in a military view. That 
incursion into South Carolina, says an English historian, ^ 
added much to the wealth of the officers, soldiers, and 
followers of the camp, and still more to the distresses of 
the inhabitants. The devastations committed, adds this 
writer, were so enormous that a particular relation of 
them would scarcely be credited by people at a distance, 
though the same could be attested by hundreds of eye- 
witnesses.^ But all this booty had been secured during a 
mere raid into the State, and from the country around the 
post at Beaufort, which they still retained. It was but a 

1 Clinton-Cornwallis controversj', growing out of the campaigns in 
Virginia, 1781. B. F. Stevens's Compilation, 1888 (London), vol. I, 144. 

2 Gordon's Am. War, vol. Ill, 25!). 

8 See, also, to the same effect, Steadnian's Am. War. vol. II, 120. 



1 



IX THE KEVOLUTION 425 

taste of wliat was in store for the invaders if regular 
o[)erations were undertaken and war really transferred to 
this State. Prdvost had been near enough to Charles- 
town, too, to learn of its great impoitance to the other 
States ; for thougli the town was too far away to be under 
the protection of Washington's Continental army, still it 
was the mart for supplying goods to most of the States 
south of New Jersey, and it was the port to which the 
privateers resorted with their prizes. Its harbor was 
crowded with shipping. How great was its importance 
in this res[)ect will be appreciated from the following 
casual notice in the Gazette of the State of South Carolina 
of November 5, 1779: "Last Sunday his Most Christian 
Majesty's frigate Iplugene^ commanded b}' M. de Kerfaint, 
sailed upon a cruize. 'Tis remarkable that during the 
time this ship was in the port, tho' there were near one 
thousand foreign sailors here at once, not the smallest riot 
happened." To break up this rendezvous of foreign vessels 
in sympathy with the Revolutionists was of itself of great 
importance to the British authorities. 

Prevost's invasion, though not immediately successful 
in itself, had found also the true approach to Charlestown, 
and had demonstrated that it was not by the sea front, but 
througli the inlets and sea islands to the rear of the town. 
It had tried also the sentiment of the people, and had 
shown that there existed great divisions among all classes. 
It had shown, too, that the Revolutionary goA'ernment 
could not rely upon the militia it might bring into the 
field, not only because of tlie divisions among the people, 
l)ut because men, however patriotic, would not leave their 
families to the mercj' of the negroes upon their plantations 
in the face of an invasion. 

Washington, having all the Continental forces, except 
those of South Carolina and Georgia, with hiin upon the 



426 HISTOIIV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Hudson and around New York, liad strongly intrenched 
himself and could not be induced by Sir Henry Clinton to 
leave his fastnesses and meet him upon the field. Sir 
Henry therefore determined to draw in all his forces 
around New York and transfer a large "part of them, for 
the Avinter season at least, to South Carolina, hoping 
quickly to crush the small Ameiican force there and take 
the city before assistance could be obtained fnuii France, 
which was now expected. Rhode Island was evacuated, 
the troops and stores brought away, the garrisons brought 
off from Stoney and Verplanck's points, and all his forces 
concentrated at New York, which he put in the strongest 
condition of defence. 

Admiral Arbuthnot arrived about this time with a fleet 
bringing 3000 fresh troops and a sujjply of provisions and 
stores. The number of British troops in America on 
the 1st of December, 1779, amounted to 38,569, which 
were distributed as follows: New York and its dependen- 
cies, 28,756; Halifax and Penobscot, 3460; Georgia, 
3930; West Florida, 1787; Bermuda and Providence 
Island, 636.1 Washington's army, as we have seen, was 
nominally 27,000 strong. It was apparently practicable, 
therefore, now that D'Estaing had gone to the AVest 
Indies and left the coast clear, and now that he had the 
fleet under Arbuthnot to convoy his army, for Sir Henry 
Clinton to transport a sufficient force to strike a successful 
blow in South Carolina during the months in which opera- 
tions were suspended at the North. With ordinaiy weather 
ten days was sufficient, as it was supposed, to reach 
Charlestown by sea, while it would take Washington 
three months at least to reenforce Lincoln with any body 
of the troops on the Hudson. ^ As soon, therefore, as Sir 

^British Forces in America; summaries from State Paiicrs Olticc. 
London ; Washington's Writiiujs, vol. V, 542. 
2 Annual Register (1780), vol. XXIII, 217. 



IN THE K EVOLUTION 427 

Henry Clinton had received positive information that 
D'Estaing had departed with his fleet from the American 
coiist, he ordered a number of transports to be fitted up 
for tlie reception of a corps of 8500, with horse ordnance 
and victualling vessels requisite for such an army. 

Washington received reports of the fitting out of the 
expedition, and at once conjectured its destination. 
Colonel Laurens, liis former aide, had come on to him from 
South Carolina, sent by Lincoln, to represent the defence- 
less condition of the State and to appeal for assistance. 

Lincoln's force at this time consisted of the South 
Carolina Continentals, which were now so reduced by 
death, desertion, battles, and the expiration of their terms 
of service, that they did not exceed 800 ;i a detachment 
of Virginia Continentals, under Lieutenant Colonel Will- 
iam Ileth, numbering about 400,^ which had arrived the 
December before;^ and a body of cavalry, consisting of 
Colonel Horry's dragoons ; the remains of Pulaski's legion, 
unde'r Major Vernier, whicli, however, all together did not 
nuister but 379 men.* Excepting the militia, Lincoln's 
whole force, therefore, at this time, did not muster 1600 
men. Of the militia he had about 2000, including tlie 
Charlestown battalion of artillery. Colonel Simons's 
Ciiarlestown Regiment, and General Lillington's North 
Carolina Brigade.^ 

Washington, however, before Colonel Laurens's arrival, 
as soon as satisfied that Clinton's destination was South 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution, vol. IT, 46. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 145. 

8 Gnzitte of the State of So. Ca., December 8, 1770. 

* Moultrif'.s Mptniiirs. vol. II. 50. 

<» Upon the surrender the Charlestown militia numbered 1086, but 
these Inrludfd the sick and intirin besides the wounded. Lillington's 
North Carolina militia numbered 1000. Uamsay's licvulution in So. Co., 
vol. II, 52. 



428 HISTORY OB^ SOUTH CAROLINA 

Carolina, had ordered the North Carolina Continental 
Brigade, under General Hogan, to march to reenforce 
Lincoln. This brigade, when it passed Philadelphia, 
numbered about 700 men ; recruits had been gathered for 
it at Halifax in North Carolina, but they wera not sent 
forward.^ The brigade did not reach Charlestown until 
the 3d of March, 17<S0, nearly three months after the 
march was commenced, the extreme cold and deep snows 
having retarded their progress. Upon Colonel Laurens's 
appeal Washington wrote to Congress proposing, ill as he 
could spare them, to send the whole Virginia troops, 
amounting to 3000 and odd,'-^ except those whose term 
of service Avould expire by the last of Januar}-. But he 
went on to point out to Congress that from the great 
distance from New York to Charlestown, from the fact 
that Virginia, the home of these troops, lay in the waj', 
and from the inclement season he was persuaded that if 
the troops proceeded by land their number would be so 
reduced by fatigue, sickness, and desertions, and the 
expiration of their enlistments, that their aid would be 
of scarcely any consideration when the}^ arrived. Li this 
view he suggested to Congress to provide for their trans- 
portation by sea from the Chesapeake Bay with a good 
convoy. Congress having consented to allow the Vir- 
ginia troops to go, on the 13th of December Washington 
wrote to General Woodford, expressing his pleasure that 
the rear of the column would march the next morning, 
and informing him that Congress had determined that the 
whole should move by water from the head of the Elk 
River to Williamsburg and thence by land to South Caro- 

1 jVo. Crt., 1780-Sl (Schcnck), 32. 

'^ Washington's Wntiniji^, vol. VI, 417 ; July 17, 1780, MS. Lincoln 
papers, collection of Tlioinas Addis Emmet, LL.D., New York ; War 
Book of the City of Charleston, 1807 (Smyth), 352-355. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 429 

lina. lie warns liim of the danger of desertion as the 
troops pass through their own State, and exhorts liira to 
vigihmce and care in preventing it. "Nothing," he 
writes, "will make me happier than to hear at all times 
that the Virginia line distinguishes itself in every quality 
that does honor to the military profession. Its composition 
is excellent, and a strict discipline will always entitle it 
to vie with any corps in this or any other service." 
Colonel Washington, with lUand and Baylor's horse, not 
l)rol)al>ly numbering more than 100, joined General Huger 
at Monck's Corner about the 1st of April. It was not 
until the Gth that General Woodford,^ with 750 Continen- 
tals, reached Charlestown, and to accomplish this he had 
made a mai'ch of 500 miles in twenty-eight days, thus 
showing his command worthy of the confidence with 
which Washinofton regarded them. These North Carolina 
and Virginia troops, amounting in all perhaps to 1500 
men, a few Continental horsemen, under Colonels Wash- 
ington and White, two frigates, a twenty-gun ship, and 
a sloop of war composed all the aid which Lincoln re- 
ceived fiom Congress. 

Lincoln had received assurances from Governor Rut- 
ledge that he would call down 2000 of his militia, and from 
(iovernor Caswell of North Carolina that he wmild send 
on the remainder of the drafts made the fall before, 
iimountingr to 1500, when called for, and that he would 
permit General Rutherford to march with all the volun- 
teers he could collect, which Lincoln was encouraged to 
believe would amount to 500 more. Lincoln was prom- 
ised also 900 troops from Virginia, besides the Virginia 
line and Washington's horse which General Washington 
had ])i()i)Osed to send, returned to him as 3000 and odd. 

' William Woodfonl, I{iij;;i(lirr (iciit nil. Continental anny ; taken 
prisonur at Chark'.sti)\vn, May 12, ITSO; dii'd November 13, 1780. 



430 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

In all, therefore, he hoped to have 9900 men in addition 
to the South Carolina and other Continentals, in all about 
10,000.1 But the South Carolina militia from the country 
refused to enter the town on account of the smallpox, 
wliich had made its appearance there, and but few of the 
North Carolinians came. None of the Virginia State 
troops appeared. General Scott, ^ who had been ex[)ected, 
came himself, but brought not a single man with liim. 
Of the reenforcements promised, Lincoln received but 
1950.3 

On the 26th of December, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton, sat- 
isfied of the departure of the French fleet, turned over the 
command of the King's troops at New York to Lieutenant 
General Knyphausen, and with Earl Cornwallis embarked 
Mdth four liank battalions, twelve regiments and corps, — 
British, Hessian, and provincial, — a powerful detachment 
of artiller}^ two hundred and fifty cavalry, and ample sup- 
plies of stores and provisions. Vice Admiral Arbuthnot, 
with a naval force superior to anything in the American 
seas, sailed as a convoy to the expedition. For a few 
days the weather proved favorable; the Admiral led the 
van and kept inshore, but a succession of storms arose and 
dispersed the fleet, and scarcely any of the ships arrived 
at Tybee in Georgia, the appointed place of rendezvous, 
before the end of January; some were taken, others sepa- 
rated, one ordnance vessel foundered most of the artillery, 

1 Lincoln's Letter to Wnshin[iton ; Gordoirs Am. War, vol. Ill, 348. 

2 Charles Scott, Brigadun- General, Continental army. 

8 Of South Carolina militia 300 

Of North Carolina militia 300 600 

Of General Ilogan's brigade 000 

Of the Virginia line from the army 750 1350 

1050 
— Lincoln's Letter to Washinqton. 



IN THE liEVOLUTloX 431 

and all the cavalry horses perished. These accidents 
deranged and impeded the intended attack upon Charles- 
town; hut Sir lieuiy ami Admiral Arhuthnot devoted 
themselves with great energy to remedy their misfortunes, 
iind in this they were greatly assisted by the troops who 
had so gallantly defended Savannah the October before, 
and who now welcomed the arrival of the Royal arm3\ 

Tarleton, in his history of the campaigns of 1780 and 
1781, observes that according to the American accounts 
the delay occasioned by the damage sustained on the voy- 
age gave them a favorable opportunity to augment the for- 
titications of Charlestown and render them formidable; 
but if so the dela3-s and accidents which befell the King's 
troops in their voj-age did not in the end prove a real 
calamity, for it allowed the Americans so to strengthen 
their fortifications as to induce them to believe they could 
hazard their lives and fortunes upon the event of a siege, 
and thus concentrating their forces in the town allowed 
the British, by the decision of a single operation, to cap- 
ture their whole force. The observation was without 
doubt just, and Washington took the same view. 

The British ships injured in the voyage having been re- 
fitted, the fleet, Avith the transports, sailed from Tybee to 
Korth Edisto; and on the 11th of February the troops were 
disembarked on John's Island, about thirty miles below 
( "harlestown. Part of the fleet was immediately sent round 
to block up the hai'bor by sea whilst the troops made their 
way across James Island, op[)osite the town, taking pos- 
session of John's Island and Stono Ferry, James Island, 
Perroneau's Landing, and Wappoo Cut. The advanced 
part of the King's army occupied the Ashley River oppo- 
site the town. Such was the extreme caution of Sir 
Henry Clinton in establishing and fortifying posts to pre- 
serve his communications with the sea, that it was not 



432 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

until the 29th of March that the advance of the army 
crossed the Ashley River and landed on Charlestown neck. 

The Assembly was sitting in Charlestown when the 
British made their appearance on the Edisto. They imme- 
diately adjourned, and all officers, many of whom were 
members of the legislature, were ordered to their posts. 
Before the Assembly adjourned, however, they delegated 
still greater poAver to the Governor and the Council than 
they had done on the former occasion — power by which 
for two years John Rutledge Avas enabled to keep uj) an 
organization of the government, and almost alone to carry 
on the war. The poAver delegated to him was, '"''till ten 
days after their next session to the Governor., John Rutledge., 
Esquire., and Siich of the Conncil as he could conveniently 
considt, apoiver to do everything necessary for the public good 
excejyt the taking away the life of a citizen without a legal 
triaV^ 

Acting upon this power Governor Rutledge issued a 
proclamation requiring "such of the militia as were regu- 
larly drafted, and all the inhabitants and owners of property 
in the town, to repair to the American standard and join the 
garrison immediately, under pain of confiscation. "^ But 
the proclamation was met by a counter one from Sir Henr}' 
Clinton, not only as Commander-in-chief of his Majesty's 
forces, but as commissioner for restoring peace and good 
government in the provinces in rebellion, offering a free 
and general pardon for all treason and treasonable offences 
theretofore committed, with the strongest assurance of 
effectual countenance, protection, and support; ami Avarn- 
ing the people of the guilt and danger of refusing such 

1 Ramsay's Revolution, \o\. II, 48. No copy of the act conferring this 
authority and power upon the Governor and Council has been preserved. 
From the power thus conferred upon him Jolni Rutledge is commonly 
spoken of as " The Dictator." * Ibid. 



IX THE KEVOLUTIOX 433 

gracious offer, and by an obstinate perseverance in re- 
hellion continuing to protract the calamities of war.^ 
Between these proclamations; between the imposing 
array of the well-equipped Jiritish arm}' and navy on the 
one hand, and the few ragged Continental soldiers under 
Lincoln on the other; and between the threat of conlis- 
cation by a government that now was reduced to but one 
man, and the dread of the smallpox in the town, there 
was but little response to Kutledge's call. Williamson 
had a camp of militia at Augusta, and it was hoped that 
one tliousand more could be got from his brigade, and 
General Richardson and Colonel Kershaw were trying to 
raise the militia about Camden; but the militia would 
not come into the town, declaring that they were afraid 
(•f the smallpox breaking out when they were cooped up 
in it, which they said would be worse to them than the 
enemy. ^ This unforeseen difficulty, a natural apprehen- 
sion, whether advanced now merely as an excuse or not, 
-sliould of itself have determined Lincoln to abandon the 
attempted defence of the town. The epidemics of small- 
pox which had prevailed in the town in 1738 and in 1760 
had been peculiarly fatal. ^ The people in the country 
naturally dreaded a recurrence of it, and it was idle to 
suppose that any body of the militia could be induced to 
incur this risk in addition to the dangers of a siege. 

hi 1779 Spain had joined France in the alliance against 
Great Britain, and Don Juan de Miralles,the Spanish agent, 
was urging Washington to make a diversion with the troops 

> Tlie Siege of Charlestown by the British Fleet and Army under the 
Command of Admiral Arbuthnot and Sir Henry Clinton, which termi- 
nated (cith the Surrender of that Place, 12 May. 1780. J. Munsell, 18(57 
(edition of 100 copies), 24. 

2 Moultrie's Mi'moir.i, vol. II, 47. 

8 Hist, of So. Ca. under Hoy. Gov. (McCrady), 180, 423, 427. 
vol.. III. — 2 k 



434 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the United States against the British in Georgia.^ 
Governor Rutledge seized upon tliis opportunity if pos- 
sible to obtain assistance from that quarter. Lieutenant 
Colonel Ternant^ was dispatched in the Eayle pilot boat 
to Ilavanna, with solicitations for assistance. He was 
authorized to promise two thousand men to coo[)erate with 
the Spaniards in the reduction of St. Augustine if tliey 
would now lend a force of sliips and men sullicient for the 
defence of Charlestown.'^ Colonel Ternant got back on 
the 20th of March, but to the great disappointment not 
only of the people generall}', but of those in command, he 
brought no assistance.'* Moultrie, writing the day before 
Colonel Ternant's arrival, was in high spirits, telling his 
friends in the country that if the British deet remained on 
the coast much longer,^ they might be surprised by a Span- 
ish fleet. The people, indeed, still clung to the hope even 
after his return. Report asserted the evening after his 
arrival that three seventy-fours and thirteen frigates, with 
three thousand land forces, might l)e expected every linur.^ 
But they did not come. The Governor of Havanna doubted 
his authority to accede to Rutledge's proposition, and no 
assistance could be obtained from that quarter. 

Sir Henry Clinton had heard, however, of all these as- 
surances of reenforcements to Lincoln and of the hourly 
additions expected from Virginia and the two Carolinas, 
and so he, too, determined to call for reenforcements.'^ The 

1 Washington's Writinrf.i, vol. VI, 475. 

2 Jean liaptise Ternant, Lieutenant Colonel and Inspector, Conti- 
nental army ; served with Pulaski's legion ; afterwards commanded 
Armand's partisan corps or legion. 

3 Ramsay's Ervnhition, vol. Tl. 48. 

* So. Ca. in the lievohitinn (Simms), 02. 

6 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 5S. 

6 Diary of the Am. lirrolntion (Moore), vol. II, 271. 

'' Tarleton's Campaii/)is, 0. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 435 

corps which he Inul brought with him was about 8500 men.^ 
A part of tliis had been left in (ieorgia, bringing with him 
to Cliarlestowii some GOOO.'^ From the garrison at Savan- 
nah he now called for 1200 more, and sent orders to the 
North for a reenforeement of 3000. ^ The British army 
besieging the town was about 13,000 men, and these the 
very tiower of the British troops in America.* Indeed, in 
an extract from a letter dated Camp Charlestown, May 8, 
1780, published in Kivington's lioycd Gazette^ June 10, 
1780, it was stated that the retinue of the Royal army 
under Sir Henry Clinton amounted to Thirteen thousand 
Jive hundred and sevent//-tu'0 men;^ but this was after the 
arrival of Lord llawdon with the reenforcements from New 
York for which Sir Henry had called. This was the 
largest British force engaged in any single operation 
during the Revolution, except in the expedition against 
Philadelphia, in which Sir William Howe had between 
15,000 and 18, 000. « 

On the 19th of February General Lincoln, whose head- 
quarters were then in the city, ordered General Moultrie 
to proceed to Bacon's bridge, across the Ashley, about 
two miles above Dorchester, that is, about twenty-four 

' Tarleton's Cnmpnignu, 3. 
2 Sierio of Chnrlrstnirn (Munsell), 32. 

8 Ihid. ; Ramsay's Itevohttiun, vol. II, 55 ; Gordon's Am. War, vol. 
Ill, 35.3. 

* Jitlin.son's Life of Greene, vol. I, 274 ; Gordon's Am. War. vol. Ill, 357. 

5 Sief/e (f Charle-^toirn (Munsell), 142. Keturns in British State Papers 
Office puts the effective force at 12,847. So. Ca. in the lievolntionary 
War. 

6 Life of Wa.thington (Irving), vol. Ill, 120. The British army during 
the siege of Boston mimbered 10.000. At the battle of Long Island Sir 
William Howe had 0000. with which he landed, and was reenforced by 
Sir Henry Clinton from Charlestown with possibly .3000, making his 
whole force 12.000." Burgoyne's army was about 0000.* 

a Steudmau'.s .Im. \\,tr, vol. I, IDl, Vr.i. » Jhid., 352. 



436 HISTORY OF SOLTll ("AHOLINA 

miles from Charlestowii, luid to form ii camp there of the 
militia of the neighborhood and of those who were ordered 
to the town. There was also under his command there 
the cavalry, amounting to 371', and a body of Con- 
tinental light infantry of 227, which had been drawn 
from the three Continental regiments and organized into 
a corps under Lieutenant Colonel Marion, until Lieuten- 
ant Colonel Henderson should relieve him, when Marion 
WMS ordered to report to General Lincoln in the town.^ 
Moultrie's command amounted in all to 600. He was 
ordered to remove all the horses, cattle, carriages, boats, 
and everything that could be of use to the enem^- or facili- 
tate his march, excepting only what was necessary for the 
support of the families left behind. He was to scour the 
country between that and the Stono and keep Lincoln 
informed of an}' movement they might make in that direc- 
tion. Three days after assuming command, on the 23d, 
Moultrie writes to Lincoln, giving him such information 
as he had obtained with his cavalry, under Major Jameson, ^ 
and reporting that he had not one single militiaman doing 
duty there ; that he was informed that they were patrol- 
ling in their different districts, but that they declared 
against going into town, as they were afraid of the small- 
pox. He informed Lincoln that the enemy were collect- 
ing fiat-bottom boats, and warns him of the danger of their 
effecting a crossing by other means to the western part of 
the town. He wrote to the same effect to Governor Rut- 
ledge. On the 25th he again reports ninet}' flat-bottom 
boats and canoes as having gone down the Stono to 
Wappoo Cut a few days before. The next day he sends 
l)risoners taken by his cavahy, but again reports that 
there was no militia at the post. He had, however, 

1 Dncumontarn Hist, ((iibbes). 1781-82. 9. 10. 

-' John Jameson of Virginia of Second Continental Dragoons. 



IN Tin: ItEVOLLTlON 437 

ordered Colonel Skiiving to send his militia to disperse 
the disaffected who were gathering in arms. Lincoln 
writes on the 29th to Moultrie very indignantly in regard 
to the militia who were so unreasonable as to avoid the 
town. "Are not," he asks, "the North Carolinians here 
who have not had the smallpox? Have they views and 
interests that the inhabitants of this State have not? 
Surely no! The safety of the town depends upon their 
coming to its assistance." He insisted that they should 
be sent, and went on to say that he had made the strictest 
intpiiry, and that there was then no smallpox in the town. 
Tlie garrison, he said, was so weak he should be obliged 
to send for the light troops as soon as Moultrie could 
get a hundred or two militia to join him. Moultrie was 
taken sick and had to be relieved. General Huger was 
sent out, on the 9th of March, to take command of the 
post.^ 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 47, 55. 

Ci the Siege of Chnrlestoirn (Munsell), 68, we find the following: — 

"Execution of Coloxel Hamilton* Ballendixe. 
" (From Dunlop's Packet of April, 17S0.) 

'• WILLIAM«BLRG IX VIRGIXIA, APRIL 18. 

" On the 5th Ult. wa.s hanged at Charie.stown. South Carolina, Colonel 
Hamilton Ballendine. for drawing Draughts of the town and Fortifica- 
tion.s. He was taken by a Picquet Guard, which General Lincoln .sent 
out that Night to Stono. as he was making his Way to the enemy ; and 
wlien he was hailed by the Guard his An.swer was. 'Colonel Hamilton 
IJallendine.' The Guard told him that would not do, and carried him to 
tlie commander of the Picquet. upon which he pulled out of his Pocket 
the Draughts. The Officer told him he was mistaken, and carried him to 
(uiH-ral Lincoln, who ordered him for Execution." — Xew York Royal 
(iazette. April 16. 

See, also, Moore's Diary of the Revolution, vol. II, 260. The story 
is also incorporated in the text of the Annual Rftiintcr for 1780 (Lon- 
don), vnl. XXIII. 222. in which it is said that Ballendine suffered '-the 
unpilied death of a traitor." Both Simms {So. Ca. in the Revolutionary 



438 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

It was the general, if not the universal, opinion that the 
naval vessels, under Commodore W]ii[)ple, sent hy Con- 
gress, lying within the bar, would effectually secure it 
against attack from the sea; and it was not until some 
time after the arrival of the ships that Lincoln had an 
intimation that to occupy a station near the bar would be 
attended with hazard. At the first suggestion of this 
difficulty he wrote, on the 30th of Januarj-, to Commodore 
Whipple upon the subject, directing him at once to have 
the bar sounded and buoyed by his officers and pilots, 
and, with the captains of the several ships, himself 
to reconnoitre the entrance of the harbor and to ascer- 
tain whether there was a possibility of the ships lying in 
such a manner as to command the passage. Commodore 
Whipple reported that when an easterly wind was blowing 
and the flood making in, which w^ould be the opportunity 
the enemy would take to come in, there would be so great 
a swell as to render it impossible for a ship to ride moored 
athwart, and that upon such an occasion the enemy's 
ships, under full sail, if they crossed the bar, v/ould with 
this advantage get to Fort Moultiie before the Continental 

War, 177) and Draper {King''s Mountain and its Heroes, 22, note) call 
attention to the fact that the story is mentioned by none of the South 
Carolina historians, nor any of the Cliarlestown diarists or letter writers. 
Draper seems to doubt if there was any such person. In the So. Ca. 
and Ajh. Gen. Gazette, June 0, 1775. ILimUton Ballentine advertises 
a power of attorney to receive a legacy due and collect the assets of an 
estate. There was therefore doubtless such a person, but what became 
of him is not further known. His name is not on the list of those whose 
estates were conti.scated {Statutes of So. Ca., vol. VI), where it probably 
would be found had the story been true. It is scarcely possil)le that such 
an event would have been overlooked by all the writers and diarists of 
the time, and not have been preserved by local tradition ; and yet the par- 
ticularity of the statement, and its acceptance by the Annual liegister at 
the time, would suggest that there must have been some foundation for 
the statement. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 439 

sliips could possibly do so. But Lincoln, impressed with 
the necessity of lesisting tlie enemy's Heet in crossing the 
hiir, and thus annoying them while liglitening tiieir heavy 
ships across, if not altogether preventing them, on the 12th 
of February addressed another letter to the Connnodore, 
recjuesting that his ships should be stationed as near the 
bar as possible so as best to command the entrance of it. 
To this the Commodore reported that on examination he 
found that there was not sufficient depth of water to lie 
near enough to the bar to command its entrance. Lincoln 
did not expect and would not accept this report, but on 
the 2Gth again wrote to the Commodore that as the design 
of his being sent to the department was, if possible, to 
l)rotect the bar of tlie liarbor, he would not abandon the 
jturpose but on the fullest evidence of its impracticability. 
He therefore requested a report to be made to him of the 
depth of water in the channel from the bar to what was 
called Five Fathom Hole, and what distance that was 
from the bar. Whether in that distance there was any 
place where his ships could anchor. If the Commodore 
could not anchor so as to cover the bar, Lincoln asked him 
to give his opinion Avhere he would lie so as to secure the 
town from an attack by sea and best answer the purposes 
of his being sent here. He begged that the Commodore 
would consult the captains of the several ships and the 
pill its of the harbor. Lincoln regarded the matter of so 
nuich importance that he sj)ent two days in a boat exam- 
ining it for himself. In reply to Lincoln's request the 
ca[)tains and the pilots gave their o[)inion that the ships 
could do more effectual service for the defence and security 
of the town by acting in conjunction with Fort Moultrie, 
than attempting to defend the entrance of the harbor. 
They thought that the channel was so narrow between the 
fort and middle ground, that is, the shoal upon which the 



440 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Actceon ran aground in the battle of the 28th of June, 1776, 
— the same upon which Fort Siunter now stands, — that 
the vessels might be moored so as to rake the channel and 
prevent the enemy's troops being landed to annoy the fort. 
This was, indeed, the proper position for Whipple's ships 
to have taken, leaving the rough water off Morris Island 
and taking their position there to await with cross and 
raking fire the appearance of the British ships as the}'' ran 
past Fort Moultrie. 

In consequence of this report the ships were withdrawn 
from the bar, and removed to act in conjunction with F'ort 
Moultrie. An attempt was made to obstruct the channel 
in front of the fort, but from the depth of water, the width 
of the channel, and the rapidity of the tide, the attempt 
proved abortive.^ 

On the 20th of March, writes Peter Timothy in his 
journal, " The crisis of our fate approaches pretty near. 
. . . This morning, soon after five, signals were made. 
At six the admiral's (Arbuthnot's) Hag was shifted to 
the Maisonable, and all the men-of-war, except the new 
admiral's ship, loosed their topsails. They were under 
way in five minutes ; and at half-past seven every one safe 
anchored within the bar wdthout meeting the least acci- 
dent."^ Lincoln, yielding to Whipple's fears, had with- 
drawn the American fleet, with 152 guns, from the 
entrance of the harbor, and allowed the British men-of- 
war, lightened of theirs, to cross the bar without a gun 
aboard. Such timid councils were to prevail still further. 
It was evident, it was urged, that the British fleet, having 
a far superior naval force, would, with a leading wind 
and tide, pass the fire of Fort Moultrie, break through 

1 Lincoln's Letter to Washington (MS.), Emmet's collection; Year 
Book nfthe City of Charleston. 18!)7 (Smyth), :}G4, 374. 
^ So. Ca. in the Jieoolutiunary War (Siuims), 89. 



IX THI>: KEVOLUTION 441 

our line of ships, and then coine to immediately, having 
our ships between them and the fort. So a council of war 
Avas called, and the result was that tlie ships were ordered 
as soon as possible to return from their station near the 
fort and proceed to the city, where their guns should be 
taken out and disposed in the different batteries, to be 
manned by the sailors under the command of their respec- 
tive ollicers, the ships themselve.^ sunk to obstruct the 
channel.^ Such was the ignominious end of the fleet sent 
by Congress to assist South Carolina in her dire necessity. 
Had Moultrie been in command, somebody would have 
been hurt before the harbor was abandoned. 

Timothy was right; this was the crisis of the fate of 
Charlestown. If the harbor was not to be defended, so 
soon as it was so determined the town should have been 
evacuated and Lincoln's army marched to meet the few 
Continental troops on their way to join him. This was 
AVashington's opinion. In a letter to Colonel John 
Laurens, April 2G, 1780, he says: — 

"I sincerely lament that your prospects are not better than they 
are. The impracticability of defending the liar I fear amounts to the 
loss of the town and garrison. At this distance it is difficult to judge 
for you, and I have the greatest confidence in General Lincoln's pru- 
dence ; but it really appears to me that the propriety of attempting to 
defend the town depended on the probability of defending the bar. 
In this, however, I suspend a definitive judgment and wish you to con- 
sider what I say as confidential. Since your last to me I have received 
a letter from General Lincoln in which he informs me that the enemj"^ 
had got a sixty-four-gun ship over the bar. with a number of other 
vessels; and that it had been determined to abandon the project of 
disputing the passage by Sullivan's Island and to draw up the frigates 
to the town and take out their cannon. This brings your affairs 
nearer to a dangerous crisis and increases my apprehensions." 

' So. Ca. in the Jtevohttiouary ]Var (Simnis), 99; Moultrie's Meinoirs, 
vol. II, GO. 



442 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

General Lincoln in his letter to Washington gives his 
reasons Avhy the defence of Charlestown was undertaken : — 

" Though T pretend not," he writes, " to plead an express order of 
Congi'ess directing y" defence of Chas.Town, — yet must observe that 
the following facts of theirs conveyed an idea to me that it was their 
intentions that the measure should be adopted, and that it was right 
in itself — circumstanced as we were. 

" As early as Jaiiy. 1, 1770, when Congress were informed that an 
attack was intended upon Chas.Town they immediately recommended 
that a vigorous defence should be made. 

"In y" beginning of y" year 1779 when Congref^:s were informed 
that y° subjugation of So. Carolina was an object which claimed the 
enemy's attention — they sent Lt. Col. Cambray an Engineer to So. 
Carolina for the express purpose of fortifying y' town of Clias.Towu 
(in which business he was employed until its surrender). 

"On ye 10 November following when y° enemy's designs no longer 
remained a doubt, they (Congress) ordered three of y° Contin'l Frig- 
ates to Chas.Town for y' defence of its harbour, and on my frequent 
representations to yem, that succours were necessary for defending y* 
town, they ordered them accordingly, — and at no time intimated to 
me that my ideas of attempting the defence of it were improper — 

"That y" measure was right in itself, circumstanced as we were, 
will I hope appear when it is considered that Chas.Town is the only 
mart in So. Carolina and y' magazine of the State — That its natural 
strength promised a longer delay to y* enemy's operations than any 
other port in y' country — 

"In abandoning it we must have given up the Contin'l ships of 
war and all our stores while there w^as yet a prospect of succour — for 
the harbour had been blocked up by a superior naval force previous 
to the debarkation of the Troops — The Stores could not have been 
removed by water, and y° waggons we had or could have procured 
would have been unequal to y' transportation of our baggage and our 
field artillery. The place, abandoned, would have been garrisoned by 
an inconsiderable force while the enemy's army would have operated 
unchecked by our handful of troops, unable to oppose them in y' field, 
or impede their progress through the country — and had our expected 
succours arrived, we could only have ultimately submitted to y* incon- 
veniences of an evacuation without our stores, where further opposition 
no longer availed," etc. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 443 

These, in his own words, Avere Lincoln's reasons for 
entering npon the defence of the town and coo[>ing liini- 
self upon its narrow peninsuhi, from wliich nothing but a 
decisive victory couhl release him, rather than al)andoning 
the town at the outset, to take the held with his army and 
put himself in a position to meet and receive the reenforce- 
ments lie believed to be coming, and with them in open 
battle to have contested with Sir Henry Clinton for the 
possession of the State. But these, his reasons, will not 
bear examination under the circumstances. 

The question at this time was not as to the importance 
of the town, nor as to the value of the stores it contained. 
There was no doubt about either. The question was as 
to the practicability or possibility of its defence. This 
question he himself decided wisel}^ or unwisely, when he 
abandoned the harbor to the enemy. It should have been 
as plain to him as it was to Washington, that the fate of 
the town was involved in that of the defence of the harbor. 
With an overwhelming force in the rear of the town it 
was useless to continue its defence Avhen the harbor was 
given up. When he withdrew the fleet, but one avenue 
of escape remained, — but there was one, — that across the 
Coojier River at LempricMe's Point, or as it was also called 
Hobcaw, but this became daily more and more precarious, 
and would be closed by Sir Ilenr}' Clinton's land force as 
soon as his reenforcements arrived, if not before by Ad- 
miial Arbuthnot's from the sea. The opinion which 
M'ashington so cautiously expressed to Laurens before the 
event he still held and expressed years afterwards when 
he viewed the situation on his visit to Charlestown. If 
the town and its stores were worth risking the loss of his 
whole army in a siege, it was worth the lisk of the loss of 
the Continental frigates in resisting the entrance of the 
British fleet into the harbor. It would have been better 



444 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to have had them lost in an engagement in which they 
might have at least done some compensating injury to the 
enemy's vessels than to have had them ignominiously sunk 
in the channel ; better that their guns should have gone 
down in an action on the bar than to have remained to 
swell the trophies of the enemy upon the capture of the 
town. 

It may well, too, be asked if Lincoln regarded the 
defence of the town so peremptorily required by his 
instructions from Congress, why had not those same 
instructions prevented his march into Georgia the pre- 
ceding year at the risk of its loss ; or at least hastened 
his return in response to Moultrie's repeated messages? 
General Woodford, we shall see, with his Virginians, 
making a march of five hundred miles in less than a 
month to reenforce him and help save the town; while he, 
the year before, went into camp forty miles from Charles- 
town, though Moultrie Avas in the direst need of his aid. 

The truth seems to be that Lincoln was himself a brave, 
amiable man and no doubt a valuable officer, under Wash- 
ington; but he possessed neither the indomitable will and 
heroic courage of Moultrie, nor any of the great qualities 
of leadership which Sumter, Marion, and Pickens were 
soon to display. 



CHAPTER XXI 

1780 

Sir Henry Clinton had been in possession of James 
Island since the 11th of February; but it was not until 
the Tth of March, nearly a month after his landing, that 
he connnenced his movements for its investment. This 
delay is inexplicable unless it is attributed to the usual 
dilatory conduct of the British generals throughout the war, 
excepting Lord Corn wallis ; or perhaps to the deliberate 
purpose of inducing General Lincoln the more effectually 
to shut himself up in the town.^ But however this may 
be, it was not till the latter date that the British in any 
force crossed Wappoo Cut, which separates James Island 
from the mainland. A small command under a colonel 
had been kept at Ashley Ferry, twelve miles from the 
town ; 2 but on the Tth of March one thousand grenadiers 
and light infantry crossed the cut and advanced to within 
three miles of that post, taking possession of the land on 
the Ashley opposite the town.^ The immediate induce- 
ment of the move appears to have been the capture of a 
large number of cattle which had been collected on Ashley 
River.* The movement was unexpected, and the militia 
and the drivers in charge of the cattle were taken, and 
Tliomas Farr, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 

* Mnnnirs of the War of 1776 (I-oe), 14(1. note. 

2 Mcintosh, So. Ca. in the Jievitlution (Simms), 87. 

^ Philip Nyle to Lincohi, Moultrio's Memoirs, vol. II, 56. 

* J. L. Gervais, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 81. 

445 



44(3 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

his soil, a little boy, and Mr. Lloyd ^ were surprised at 
breakfast and carried off. Mr. Farr was made to perform 
the undignified task of driving the cattle for his captors, 
who encouraged him in doing so by calling to him, "Keep 
up, Mr. Speaker, keep up."^ 

On the 12th, to the astonishment of the people in the 
town, a battery appeared with five embrasures at Fen- 
wick's Point on Wappoo, on a line with the prolongation 
of Tradd Street in the town,-^ nothing of which could be 
seen the evening* before; and by seven o'clock they had 
heavy cannon mounted. The British continued erecting 
batteries on the right bank of tlie Ashley, and by tlie 18th 
were at work upon one near Old Town. This work was 
designed to cover their stores and their crossing to Gibbes's 
Landing, about two miles from town,* when they should 
have secured the possession of the neck. 

About this time, the middle of INIarch, General Patter- 
son crossed the Savannah with the reenforcements from 
Georgia for which Sir Henry Clinton had sent, and which 
consisted of the garrison from Savannah, including the 
famous Seventy-first Regiment, now under the command 
of Major McArthur, since the death of Lieutenant Colonel 
Maitland; the light infantry, commanded by Major Gra- 
ham ; the infantry of the British Legion, by Major Coch- 
rane; the American Volunteers, by Lieutenant Colonel 
Ferguson ; the New York Volunteers, by Colonel Turn- 
bull ; the South Carolina Royalists, by Colonel Lines; and 
the North Carolina Royalists, by Lieutenant Colonel 
Hamilton; and a number of dragoons, in all about fifteen 

1 John Lloyd ; see Hht. of So. Ca. under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), G05, 
G07, (HO. 

2 Thomas Farr was olcoted Spoakor in place of John Mathews elected 
to Congress. Gazptte of State of So. On.. Autaist 11, 1779. 

8 The present site of Phosphate Works. 

* The present site of Wagencr's Driving Park. 



IN THK KEVOLUTrOX 447 

hundred men.' This body had marched up the Savannah 
on the Augusta road for forty miles, and crossed at a 
ferry called the Two Sisters, encamping in a field occu- 
pied by General Moultrie the May before. On the 13th 
Colonel Ferguson, with his volunteers, and Major Coch- 
rane, of the legion, were ordered forward to secure the 
passes across the rivers, in doing which and approaching 
the Combahee the parties mistaking each other for Ameri- 
cans came in collision, and before the mistake was dis- 
covered several were killed and wounded, ^ 

The order for this reenforcement from Provost's army in 
Georgia had been received just before the celebrated Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Tarleton, who was to bear so prominent a 
part in the war in South Carolina, had arrived at Tybee 
with his dragoons. Upon his arrival he was disappointed 
at finding that the horses Avhich had been embarked at New 
York in excellent condition had all been lost on the voy- 
age, and that he could lind none to leplace them in Georgia. 
In this emergency he proceeded to Port Royal and collected 
tliere, from friend and foe, all the horses on the islands in 
the neighborhood. But these marsh tackeys of the coast, 
which were all he could obtain, proved scarcely strong 
enough for the Avork of his dragoons. This, however, 
did not discourage the enterprising officer, but only 
determined him to secure a better mount as soon as 
[)ossible; a determination which the want of proper 
caution on the part of his opponents soon enabled him 
to can-}' out. 

Wliile the militia of the countr}- could not be induced, 
with but few exceptions, to come into the town, William- 
son and Pickens were enabled to bring some of them into 
the field to liang upon the flanks of Patterson's command 

' SiP(ie of ClKirlfistmrn (Munsell), IT)?. 

- Tarleton' s Memoirs^ 7 ; Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 157, 1(50. 



448 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAnOMXA 

and to impede, to some extent, his progress. But not- 
withstanding their efforts Tarleton joined Patterson on 
the 2l8t, and the whole command arrived at Stono Creek 
on the 25th, where the Commander-in-chief visited the 
welcome addition to his army. On their Avay they had 
surprised a party of fifty militia, under Major Ladson, 
and killed or captured the whole party. ^ Contemporary 
with this great addition to Sir Henry Clinton's force the 
time of the North Carolina Brigade, under General Lil- 
lington, in Charlestown, one thousand strong, expired, 
and though the most liberal proposition of large bounty 
was made to them they could not be induced to remain. ^ 
These troops, whose conduct in coming into the town had 
been held up by General Lincoln as an example to the 
South Carolina country militia, now in the face of the ap- 
proaching enemy laid down their arms — General Lilling- 
ton himself refusing to stay. Except about one Imndred 
and seventy, who agreed to remain under Colonel Lytle, 
they all left the town on the 24th of March. ^ Fortunately, 

1 Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 161 ; Timothy, So. Ca. in the Bevo- 
lution (Sirams), 95. Bauastre Tarleton, who from this time is to play a 
most distinguished part in the conduct of the war in South Carolina, was 
born in Liverpool, England, on the 21st of August, 1754. He had begun 
the study of the law, but when the war in America commenced he entered 
the army, and came hither with Cornwallis. He served that otKcer in all 
his campaigns in this country, and ended his military career in Yorktown 
in 1781. Tarleton's corps was recruited and organized in New York, and 
was therefore a body of Americans. It consisted of light cavalry and 
infantry, and was called "The British Legion." After the Revolution 
Tarleton became a member of Parliament, and one of the Prince of Wales's 
(afterward George IV) set, competing with his Highness for the favors of 
the famous Mrs. Robinson. Lossing's Field Book of the lievohition. vol. 
II, 401 ; Memoirs of George IV (Robert Huish, London), note to p. 74. 
See also Garden's Anecdotes. 284; British Military Lilyrary, vol. II, 1. 

- Ramsay's Bevolutiou in So. Ca., vol. II, 53. 

* J. L. Gervais, in So. Ca. in the Bevolution (Simms), 91 ; Mcintosh, 
ibid., 92 ; P. Timothy, ibid., 95, 



IN TIIK l:i:V<»LI TI(»N 440 

their places were su[)plie{l, to some extent, by some of the 
country militia, who, overcoming their fears of the small- 
pox, had come into the town. Colonel Garden had brought 
in a hundred of these a day or two befcu'e,^ and they now 
amounted to a sullieient force to be put into a separate 
body under the command of the gallant General Lachlaii 
Mcintosh of Georgia, who had voluntarily come into the 
garrison a few days before. ^ The fleet having been Avith- 
drawn from the harbor, the garrison of the town was in- 
creased b}' twelve hundred sailors, who now manned their 
guns, taken from the sunken vessels and placed in the 
fortilications. But with this addition the number of men 
in garrison was still by far too few to defend the works, 
near three miles in circumference.^ 

St. Michael's steeple, which had served as a beacon, 
was blackened when the British fleet ap})eared off the bar; 
a device, however, which the British declared made it 
more conspicuous than ever. In this steeple Peter 
Timothy took his post, as in a watch tower, and made 
his observations and notes of the movements of the Brit- 
ish fleet and of the army on James Island.* From this 
post he could see the gathering of the British forces and 
the arrival of the reenforcements under Patterson. "With 
his spyglass lie could see Lord Cornwallis and a Hessian 
general viewing the works they were erecting at Wappoo, 
and distinguish the Tories with them by their costumes. 
But when he turned from watching this army growing 
on the Ashley, for the attack upon the town, he looked in 

' Gervais, So. Ca. in the Beralntion (Simms), 38. 

- Larhlan Mcintosh of Georgia, Colonel First Georgia Continentals, 
January 7, 1776 ; Brigadier General, Continental army, September 16, 
1776. 

' Colonel Laurens's Letters; Siege of Chnrlextown (Munsell), 48. 

* The steeple was again used as a signal station in the war between 
the States. 

VOL. m. — 2 o 



4r)() urSTOltV OF S(JUTH CAKULIXA 

vain i'or any movement at lladdrell's or at Lempiiere's 
Point on the Cooper telling of the coming of the Vii- 
ginians whom Washington had sent, or those which the 
State of Viiginia had promised. Colonel Laurens had 
written on the 25th of February: "The Virginia troops 
are somewhere! Assistance from that sister State has 
been expected these eighteen montlis I "^ But assistance 
had not yet come. Indeed, no more was to come from 
that State. A gallant band, few in numbers, but admirable 
in spirit, Woodford's Continentals, were to arrive during 
the siege and to do excellent service; but no troops were 
to come from that State itself, or from any other. 

On the 23d, after crossing the Ponpon or Edisto River, 
Tarleton with his dragoons had fallen in with a party of 
militia at Lieutenant Governor Bee's plantation, had 
killed ten of them and taken, four prisoners, and in their 
first encounter secured a number of good horses. Three 
days aftei', however, this was counterbalanced in the first 
meeting between Tarleton and his equally distinguished 
opponent, Lieutenant Colonel William Washington, ^ who, 
having already served wdth distinction in one Northern 

1 Laurens's Letters ; Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 48; Tarleton's 
Memoir!^, 34. 

■-William Augustine Washington, styled "the modern Marcellus,"' 
"the sword of his country,'' was the eldest son of Baily Washington of 
Stafford County, Virginia, where he was born on the 28th of February, 
n[y2. He was educated for the Church, but the peculiar position of 
])()litical affairs led him into the political field. He early espoused the 
patriot cause, and entered the army under Colonel (afterward General) 
Hugh Mercer, as captain in the Third Virginia. He ,was in the battle 
of Long Lsland, distinguished himself at Trenton, where he was wounded, 
and was with General Mercer when he fell at Princeton. He was then 
7nade Major in Colonel Baylor's corps of cavalry, and was with that 
officer at the slaughter of his (•ori)s at 'i'appan in 1778. He was now 
about to enter upon a distinguislicd career in this State. Lossing's Field 
Book of the Ecvolutiun, vol. II, 4:3.') ; Garden's Anecdotes, 284. 



IN TIIK KKVOLUTION 451 

army was now liansfeired to Soutli Carolina with the 
remains of Bhmd's, Baylor's, and Moylan's Virginia 
regiments of horse. ^ Tins first encounter between these 
great cavalry leaders took place at Governor Kutledge's 
plantation between Hantowle's Bridge and Ashley Ferry. 
In this affair Washington drove back the cavalry of the 
British Legion under Tarleton and took several prisoners, 
including Colonel Hamilton of the North Carolina loy- 
alists and a British suigeon. Colonel Hamilton, of 
wiiom we have before spoken, was a valuable prize, but 
Washiiitjton was huntinor nuich bigfc^er game, and came 
near capturing Sir Henry Clinton himself on his visit to 
the newly arrived reenforcements from Georgia.'^ 

On this same day, 2()th of March, now that the British 
were advancing against this town, Lincoln's army moved 
into their lines and took their positions. These works 
that had been thrown up the spring before upon Pievost's 
invasion, had been strengthened and extended while Sir 
Henry Clinton was waiting his reenforcements. Lines of 
defence and redoubts had been continued entirely across 
the Neck from Cooper to Ashley rivers. The lines 
.began on Town Creek, a branch of the Cooper, at a point 
just ])elow the present site of the railroad depot in Chapel 
Street, and to the north of where then stood the Liberty 
Tree; then running on a line passing close b}' the present 
site of St. Luke's Church and the Second Presbyterian 
Church in Charlotte Street, they crossed Meeting Street, 

• The First Continental Dragoons (Bland's), now commanded by Colo- 
nel Anthony Walton White of New Jersey ; the Third Continental Dra- 
goons, now commanded by Lientenant Colonel WashingUm ; and the 
Fourth (Continental Dragoons. Colonel Stephen Moylan of Pennsylvania. 
Neither Colonel White nor Colonel Moylan appears to have been 
present. 

2 Tarleton's Memoirs, 8; Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 161. We 
have no mention of the mnnbers of either party. 



452 HISTOUV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

where now was reached a large hornwoik, crossing King 
Street, — then the only road to the country, — a remnant 
of which work is preserved and is still to })e seen on 
Marion Square. Thence the line of fortifications ran 
through the present Vanderhorst Street, crossing the 
present site of St. Paul's Church, where it rested upon 
the creek which ran up between Cannonsborough and the 
town just east of the present Smith Street. This consti- 
tuted the main line. South of tliis on the Ashle}' there 
were batteries on Coming's Point, that is, the lantl south 
of what is now known as Bennett's Millpond and between 
Bull and Beaufain streets. There was a line of works 
also on South Bay, extending from the Ashlc}' to the 
Cooper, and including the former Lytleton's and Gran- 
ville's bastions.^ In front of these lines on the Neck was 
a strong abatis and a wet ditch, picketed on the nearest 
side. The lines were made particularly strong on the 
right and left, and so constructed as to rake the wet ditch 
in almost its whole extent. In the centre a strong citadel 
was erected. Works were thrown up on all sides of the 
town where a landing was practicable. Colonel De Laumoy 
and Lieutenant Colonel De Cambray, two French engi-. 
neers in the service of Congress, were indefatigable in 
strengthening the lines. ^ But, after all, these were little 
more than field works. In manning the lines the North 
Carolina regulars (Hogan's) were posted on the right; 
the Virginia battalion (Heth's) next; then Lytle's North 
Carolina corps, those who remained when the rest of the 
brigade, under General Lillington, left; and then the 
South Carolina regulars on the left,^ at a battery known 
as Coming's Point.* 

1 See the map accompanying Mayor Courtenay's centennial address, 
Year Bool; 188:}. 

'^ Ramsay's Rpvnbttion in So. Ca., vol. II, 40. 

* So. Ca. ill the lii'Volution, 100. 

* Between the western ends of Wentworth and Bull streets. 



IN Tiii>: i;i:v()LUTiuN 463 

The militia were posted at the less exposed positions on 
South Bay and other parts of the town.^ General Moul- 
trie was ordered to direct tlie disposition of the artillery 
of the different batteries and works in and about the 
lowii.^ A council of war, consisting of the generals and 
held oiricers, was held on the 27th at the headquarters, 
which were in Tradd Street, to consider the propriety of 
evacuating Fort Moultrie at once, now that the harbor was 
abandoned; but it was decided not to do so.^ 

While Lincoln was thus posting his troops and holding 
his first council, the British were slowly but steadily 
advancing up the Ashley, and Captain Elphinstone of the 
Royal navy, having stationed his galleys to protect the 
boats, the army began to cross the river at Ashley Ferry 
and at Drayton Hall on the 29th. This they Avere allowed 
to do without the slightest opposition. In his letter to 
Washington Lincoln says he had to lament that the state 
of the garrison would not admit of a sufficient force being- 
sent to annoy them in crossing the river, but that his 
whole number at the time in garrison amounted to only 
2225. It is true that the circumstances were different 
from those of Provost's invasion the year before, and Lin- 
coln, if he Avas to attempt to hold the town, could not now 
bring out the army to meet Clinton at his crossing, as 
Moultrie should have done to meet Provost; for the Brit- 
ish now had a large army, Avith boats and abundant means 
of crossinjj the river betAveen Old Town and Gibbes's 
Landing, and thus at once capturing the toAvn had Lin- 
coln abandoned it to meet the British force at the ferry; 
Avhereas, the year before, Prdvost had no means of crossing 
the river but at the ferry, and had too small an army to 

* Ramsay's Revolution, vdl. II, 49. 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 05 ; So. Ca. in the Revolution (Sinnns), 100. 

3 Mcintosh, So. Ca. in the Revolution (^Siinms), 102. 



454 HISTOUV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

divide for the purpose. Still, if the enemy Avere to be met 
at all outside of the city, as they were, there must have 
been some strong reason Avhich restrained Lincoln from 
making the oj)position while the British were involved in 
the ditficulties of the crossing a bold river flanked upon 
both sides by an impassable marsh, the only causeway 
across the marsh at Bee's Ferry being easily raked by 
artillery. This opportunity of inflicting loss and delaying 
their movement was lost; but Colonel John Laurens was 
given the command of a battalion of light infantry of two 
hundred men and was sent up the great path, that is, the 
main road from the city, of the beauty of which we have 
before had occasion to speak, ^ to meet the enemy's 
advanced parties, and to retard their movements as much 
as possible. 

On the following da}^, the 30th, Sir Henry Clinton ordered 
the light infantry and yagers, supported by the grenadiers 
and the other corps and regiments, to gain the road and 
to move toward the town.^ This they did, and met with 
no opposition for ten miles of their march; but as they 
approached Gibbes's farm, about two miles from the town, 
their advance, about ten or twelve o'clock, met Colonel 
Laurens, who skirmished with them the rest of the day, 
being reen forced in the evening by Major Lowe,^ with 
ninety men and two field-pieces. This skirmish took 
place in view of both aimies and of man^^ ladies of Charles- 
town, who came out to the works, and who continued to 
do so even after the firing from the town had begun, and 
would, with all the composure imaginable, watch the can- 

1 King Street Road. Hist, of So. Ca. under Prop. Oov. (McCrady), 
342. 

2 Tarletoii'.s Memoirs, 0. 

8 Philip Lowe fir.st entered the service as an officer in the Second 
North Carolina Continental Regiment, subsequently served as Major of 
Third Georgia. 



IN THE KK VOLUTION 455 

nonafling of tlie enemy. ^ In this first encounter of tlie 
siege Captain Bowman, of Ilogan'.s Nortli Carolina 
brigade, was killed, ^ and Major Hyrne ^ and seven pri- 
vates were wounded. On the British side the Earl of 
Caitlniess, aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-chief, was 
wounded, with several men. About dark Colonel Laurens 
and his party fell back into the lines. General Mcintosh 
pronounced the whole affair a mere point of honor without 
advantage! 

General Patterson had been left at Wappoo Cut, imme- 
diately west of tlie citv, with the greater part of his com- 
mand, to guard the magazines and stores while the main 
body gained the Neck. As soon as this was accomplislied 
by Sir Henry Clinton, Patterson's command was crossed 
over at Gibbes's Landing, and communication was opened 
at tliis point, and all trouble and delay attendant upon the 
land carriage by the upper crossing by the way of Ashley 
Ferry was avoided. By this route the British now 
received their supplies of guns, provisions, and baggage 
with facility and expedition, and Sir Henry Clinton was 
put in immediate communication with the navy. 

On the 3Lst of March General Scott, who had been 
anxiously expected Avith a body of Virginia State troops, 
arrived, but brought no troops with him. This was a 
great disappointment to the people of the town. The 
garrison were busily employed a,ll the day strengthening 
the works and mounting cannon. The British broke 
ground at night at from ten to twelve hundred yards. 

* Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II. 02 ; Mcintosh, »SV*. Ca. in the, Itevulu- 
tion (SimiiLs), 104. 

2 Joseph Bowman, Major, First North Carolina Continental Regiment. 

' Edmund Hyrne entered service as Captain, First South Carolina 
Continental Keiiiment. June 17, ITTo ; Major, May 12, 1779; Deputy 
Adjutant General, Sdutiiern Department, November 17, 1778, to close 
of the war. We shall fuid him serving a.s aide-de-camp to Major General 
Greene in 1781-82. 



456 HISTORY OV SOUTH CAROLINA 

No incident of consequence occurred during the first 
three days of April. The British were engaged opening 
their trenches and the Americans strengthening theirs and 
cannonading the British working parties. The Charles- 
town militia were ordered from the bay to the right of the 
lines. But what was of importance and encouragement 
was the arrival of Colonel Neville,^ with dispatches from 
Woodford's brigade, announcing their approach ; and later 
that of another messenger, on Monday the 3d, with an 
account that this brigade was at Camden on Wednesday 
the 29th, and would be within forty miles of the town 
that evening. 

The wind had fortunately continued westwardly since 
the British fleet got across the bar, and they were thus 
prevented from attempting to come in and run past Fort 
Moultrie. On the 4th another work appeared on the 
enemy's left at Hampstead on a rising ground which com- 
manded that which had been thrown up by Lincoln near 
the Liberty Tree. To silence this the Continental frigate 
Manger, which had not been sunk, was sent up Town 
Creek, a branch of the Cooper, which runs in near the 
shore, to enfilade it; but she made very poor Avork with her 
guns, and receiving two or three shots from a field-piece 
brought to the side of the river by the British troops, she 
retired. It had been determined to send three armed 
vessels, with a detachm.ent of five hundred men under 
Colonel Laurens, to take this work in reverse, but Major 
Clarkson,^ who was sent in the Ranger, reported when he 
returned that the work was enclosed in the rear, and so the 

1 Pressley Neville of Virginia, who had first served as Major and 
aide-de-camp to General Lafayette, now Brevet Lieutenant Colonel. 

2 Matthew Clarkson, Major and aiile-de-cainp to General Arnold, 
August, 1778, and aide-de-camp to General Lincoln, March, 1779, to 
July 2, 1782. 



IN THE UEVOLUTIUX 457 

entei'pi'iso Avas .abandoned. Tlie cannonading by the 
Americans was ke[)t up all that night, and shells were 
thrown which damaged the British works upon Hamp- 
stead; but it w\as not until the next morning at seven 
o'clock that a shot was fired from the besiegers. At this 
time, the morning of the 5th of April, Mr. Thomas Horry, 
who was superintending the negroes working upon the 
lines, received a contusion from a spent musket ball, and 
a few shots followed afterward, but without doing any 
damage. The negi-oes Avere a little frightened at first, 
but continued their work.' In the eveniiig- fire was 
opened from the opposite side of the town. Four galleys 
came out of Wappoo Cut, two-thirds across Ashley' River, 
about eight o'clock, it being very dark, and with the 
batteries on Wappoo Neck opened fire upon the town. 
This was kept up all night. The enemy's principal 
object was Battery No. 1 of the Americans on Coming's 
Point, where the Third South Carolina Regiment was 
posted. Their shot were twenty-four and thirty-two 
pounders. Several houses were struck and shattered. 
Mr. Morrow of the militia grenadiers was killed by a can- 
non ball as he stood in his own door in King Street; but 
one other — a soldier in Battery No. 2 — was wounded. 
Two horses of General Mcintosh's were killed on the lot 
of ^Ii-. Lowndes's residence in Broad Street, in which the 
General was quartered. ^ 

During the Jiight also the enemy .attempted to surprise 
Colonel Washington's cavalry at Middleton Place, near 

1 J. L. Gervais, So. Ca. in the Jievolntion (Simnis), 111. 

2 J. L. Gervais, Mcintosh, and Moses Young, So. Ca. in the Revohition 
(Sininis), 112. Governor Kutledge wrote to General Lincoln suggesting a 
sciieme for the surprise and capture of the galleys which had thus in- 
sulieil the town ; but nothing appears to have come of it. Lincoln's 
papei-s, Year Book of the City of Charleston, 1897 (Smyth), 348-349. 



458 HISTORY OB^ SOUTH CAROLINA 

the head of the Ashley. For this purpose fifty horse and 
five liundred infantry were detached and marchetl to liis 
encampment. But Washington was on tlie alert, and when 
the enemy advanced with fixed bayonets, they found the 
fires burning, but no troops behind. Washington liad 
received information of the movement and had removed 
his camp to the twenty-third mile house. The British, 
disappointed, retired, and Colonel Washington, sending a 
party of his horse after them, picked up three of their rear- 
guard.^ 

Both parties continued their works during the 6th, and 
each kept up a cannonade which was doubled during the 
night by the British from their galleys and batteries at 
Wappoo. On the 7th, Friday, the besieged were rejoiced 
by the arrival of Woodford's brigade of Virginians and 
some North Carolina militia under Colonel Harrington.- 
The Virginians were said to be very fine-looking troops, 
bearing the appearance of what they were in reality, — 
hardy veterans, — the sight of whom made an amazing 
alteration in the countenances of the citizens, who had 
almost despaired of their arrival. In the afternoon the 
lines were manned, and nfeu de joie was fired from thir- 
teen pieces of cannon, followed by huzzas from the troops. 
The Charlestown militia gave up their places on the right 
of the line to the newly arrived veterans, and resumed 
their former position on South Bay.^ Another diarist 
observes, however, that an opportunity was unfortunately 

1 Moses Young, So. Cn. in the Revolution (Siinins), 112. 

2 De Hralmi and Mcintosh, the two usually most correct of the diarists, 
jnit their arrival as of the Gth ; but Moultrie, Gervais, and Young put it 
as nf the 7th. We have accepted the latter date, as Young gives it as 
" Friday,''' which was the 7th, and so does Peter Timothy, in his MS. 
journal, Laurens's Papers. Itauisay gives it as the 10th, but is clearly 
wrong. 

8 Moses Young, So. Ca. in the Recolntion, (Sininis) 112. 



IN Till-: i;i:v(>Li"nox 459 

given by marching the whole corps in regular order to 
their encam[)ineiit to ascertain their precise number, which, 
not according with the expectations almost universally 
entertained, may have been the occasion of several deser- 
tions which ha})pened the same night. ^ However much 
the people of Charlestown may have admired these gal- 
lant Virginians, who had made the extraordinary march 
of five hundred miles in twenty-eight days, no doubt 
bitter was the disappointment when it was ascertained 
that these seven hundred were all of the Viiginia line of 
three thousand they had been promised who were likely 
to reach them in their extremity. Indeed, it seems now 
an act of lolly to have taken these few in, if no more were 
to come. The}' were but to swell the number of captives 
in the town already doomed to the enemy's possession. 

The wind, which had so long been blowing in favor of 
the beleaguered town, now at last shifted, and Admiral 
Arbuthnot, taking advantage of a strong southerly breeze 
and flood tide, signalled to Clinton that he would immedi- 
ately weigh anchor and come in ; the salute in honor of 
the arrival of the Virginians had hardl}- died away Avhen 
the guns in the harbor announced that the fleet were pass- 
ing Fort Moultrie. Timothy, from St. Michael's steeple, 
at half-past four o'clock saw and reported that the admiral, 
in the Roebuck^ had received and returned the fire of Fort 
Moultrie and had passed it without any apparent damage; 
and that a frigate, supposed to be the Blonde^ had also 
passed the fort, after receiving and returning the fire, with 
the loss of her foretopmast. Then the admiral, having 
passed above Fort Johnson, fired a gun and hoisted a 
stri[)e(l flag at the mizzen peak. Another forty-four-gun 
shi[t, supi)osed to he the Romulus, passed the fort after a 
pretty smart fire on both sides, but with little apparent 
1 Thomas Wells, Jr., So. Ca. in the Revolution (Siinms), 118. 



460 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

damage. Tlie admiral then, near five o'clock, came to 
anchor near James Island, above Fort Johnson ; a f i igate 
with her topmast shot away did the same, and by five 
o'clock three other frigates had passed tlie fort, firing and 
receiving the fort's fire as they did so. Then the fire 
opened between the fort and the lienoivri, and by half- 
past five every ship of the fleet had passed the fort and 
come to anchor, except a transport which had run aground. 
Timothy, rebel as he was, could not refrain his admiration 
of the action of the fleet. "They really make," he says, 
"a most noble appearance, and I could not help admiring 
the regularity and intrepidity with which they approached, 
engaged, and passed Fort Moultrie. It will reflect great 
honor upon the admiral and all his captains; but 'tis pity 
they are not friends."^ But Colonel C. C. Pinckne3% 
who commanded at Fort Moultrie, had not allowed the 
fleet to pass without some atonement. With a garrison of 
three hundred men of the First Regiment he had main- 
tained a severe fire and inflicted a loss of twenty-nine sea- 
men, fourteen of whom were killed and fifteen wounded.^ 
The Acteus, a store ship, following the squadron, had 
grounded near Haddrell's Point; and upon this Captain 
Thomas Gadsden, detached by Colonel Pinckney, with tAvo 
field-pieces did her such damage that the crew set her on 
fire and retreated in boats to the other vessels. The Royal 
fleet were thus at anchor near the remains of Fort Johnson 
on James Island, within long range of the town batteries. 
Fortunately the sunken ships across the channel from the 
town to Shutes's Folly, ^ supported by the town batteries 

1 Diary, Peter Timothy, MS. Laurens's Papers, Promiscuous Letters, 
So. Ca. Hist. Soc. 

^Journal of Operations before Charlestown ; Siege of Charlestown 
(Munsfll), 124. 

8 Now the site of Castle Piiickuey. 



IN THE JiEVOLUTION 461 

and llie remainiiij^ Continoiital fleet, prevented tlieni from 
running up Cooper Kiver and enfilading as Avell the town 
as tlie lines of the defence. Nothing was heard from the 
garrison of Fort jNIonltrie until Sunday afternoon, the 9th, 
when Major Thomas Pinckney came up and reported that 
not a single man had been hurt and that but about ten of 
the shots from the fleet had struck any part of the fort.^ 

The first i)arallel of the enemy's lines was now com- 
pleted and the town very nearly invested. There remained 
but the one means of communication with the rest of the 
world, and that was crossing the Cooper River to Had- 
drell's or to Lompriere's Point, or Hobcaw. This com- 
munication Avas difficult and precarious. These routes 
were each four miles across the Cooper, which here is but an 
arm of sea, and now that the enemy's fleet were in the harbor 
that to Haddrell's Point was commanded by their guns. 

Sunda}', the 9th of April, was spent by the garrison of 
the town in a series of fatigues and hard duty, with little 
rest, and by the people in throwing up banks of earth 
against their dwelling-houses to protect them as far as 
possible from the British shot.^ It was expected that the 
town would now soon be summoned, — probably the next 
day, — and upon an answer refusing to surrender that a 
bombardment would connnenee, and be maintained inces- 
santly from all quarters.-^ This expectation was to be ful- 
filled. The day Admiral Arbuthnot had brought in his 
fleet (9th) lie repaired to the camp on Charlestown Neck, 
where he was Avarmly welcomed,^ and where, with Sir 
Henry Clinton, it was determined to summon the town 
the next day. 

' Mt)si'.s Young, So. Ca. in the BevoUUion (Simms), 116. 
"■Ibid.. 113-117. 

* Thomas Wells, Jr., ibid. 

* Jiiunial of the Operations before Charlestoicn ; Siege of Charles- 
town (^Muiisell;, 124. 



4»)2 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

On the evening of the lOtli of April a flag came in from 
the Britisli lines with a summons to Major General Lin- 
coln. The summons ran thus:^ — 

"Camp ijefore Charlestown, April 10, 1780. 

"Sir Henry Clinton, K.B., General and Commander-in-Chief of his 
Majesty's forces in the colonies, &c., and Vice- Admiral Arbuthnot 
Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's ships in North America" &c., 
"regretting the effusion of blood and the distresses which must now 
commence deem it consonant to humanity to warn the town and 
garrison of Charlestown of the havoc and desolation with which they 
are threatened from the formidable force surrounding them by sea 
and land. An alternative is offered at this hour to the inhabitants, 
of saving their lives and property contained in the town or of abid- 
ing by the fatal consequences of a cannonade and storm. 

" Should the place, in a fallacious security, or its connnander in a 
wanton indifference to the fate of its inhabitants, delay the surrender, 
or should public stores or shipping be destroyed, the resentment of an 
exasperated soldiery may intervene ; but the same mild and compas- 
sionate offer can never be renewed. 

" The respective commanders who hereby summon the town do not 
ai^prehend so rash a part as further resistance will be taken ; but 
rather that the gates will be opened and themselves received with a 
degree of confidence which will forebode further reconcilliation. 

(Signed) " H. Clinton. 

"M. Arbuthnot." 

Without consulting any one,^ General Lincoln immedi- 
ately sent the following answei': — 

" Gentlemen, — 

"I have received your summons of this date — sixty days have 
passed since it has been known that your intentions against this 
town were hostile, in which time has been afforded to abandon it, 
but duty and inclination point to the propriety of supporting it to 
the last extremity. 

"T have the honor to be &c. 

" B. Lincoln, 
" Commanding in the South department." 

1 Ramsay's Ervoliifion, vol. II. o90 ; Siege of Charlestown (Munsell), 67. 

2 :\IcIntos!i. ,S'o. C<t. in the lievoUition (Simnis), UU. 



CHAPTER XXII 

1780 

Lincoln, without calling a council or consulting any- 
one, had peremptorily refused the summons to surrender; 
but this Avas liis last decisive action durine: the siesfe. 
His conduct duiing the month which it was to ccmtinue 
was indecisive and weak. He allowed his measures to be 
discussed, liis military councils to be interfered with and 
dictated to by civilians, and his authority^ to be slighted; 
and while the inhabitants of the town patiently and heroi- 
cally bore the suffeiing and dangers of the siege, . he 
allowed himself, without an enterprising measure or 
striking an ellicient blow, gradually but steadily to be 
hemmed in, and finally compelled to accept the rejected 
terms without securing but partially even the honors of 
war for his garrison. 

The day after the summons Sir Henry Clinton opened 
his batteries upon tlie town and pressed on his works. 
The garrison re[)lied with vigor, the meanwhile strengthen- 
ing their defences as far as possible.^ The most important 
incident of this day was the loss of Major John Gilbank, 
one of the most valuable ollicers in the garrison. He was 
an able engineer, and was accidentally killed while mak- 
ing experiments with shells.^ 

1 Tarleton's Canijmii/ns, 14, 39; So. Ca. in the Revnhttiananj War 
(Simms), 119. 

2 De Brahin, So. Ca. in tho licvohUinnary War (Simms), 120. But see 
Johnsou's Traditions, 248, wliere another account of the accident is given. 

403 



464 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAliOLINA 

While Lincoln refused to surrender, on the one hand, 
or, on the other, to Av^thdraw his troops from their inevi- 
table doom unless he did so, now that but one opening for 
escape remained, he recognized the situation sufficiently 
to urge upon Governor Rutledge to leave the town while 
3^et he might; and on the 12th he sent for the general 
officers and obtained their signatures to a letter urging 
upon the Governor and part of his Council, at least, to 
leave, in order that upon the fall of the town there might 
remain a nucleus of the government in the State. The 
firing continued as usual during the da}', but very little 
at night. But on the morning of the 13th, at nine o'clock, 
the enemy's batteries opened with vigor, throwing bombs, 
carcasses, and red-hot balls. This lasted for about two 
hours, when the fire abated on both sides. The carcasses 
— combustibles confined in iron hoops — and the red-hot 
shot now began to do their work. The inhabitants were 
exposed to the burning of their houses in addition to the 
danger to their persons. To meet this a fire de[)artment 
was organized, and upon alarm the members turned out 
actively and crowded around the flames, to extinguish 
them or prevent their extension. In doing this the citi- 
zens exposed tliemselves more conspicuously to the enemy, 
and on all such occasions the British increased their fire, 
directing their shot and shells at the smoke. The families 
which remained in Charlestown amidst these exciting and 
alarming scenes of danger burrowed in their cellars, and 
generally escaped; not more than twenty of them Avere 
killed durinsf the siesfe.^ 

At the suggestion of General Lincoln, as we have said, 
it was detei'mined that Governor Rutledge and some of the 
Council should leave the town. Lieutenant Governor Bee 
was in Philadelphia attending the Continental Congress, 

' Johnson's lydditions, 252. 



IN TMK REVOLUTION 4G5 

of which he was a member. The Constitution of 1778 
provided that in ease of the absence from the seat of gov- 
ernment or sickness of the Governor and Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor any one of the Privy Council might be empowered 
by the Governor under his hand and seal to act in his 
room.^ In the absence of Jvieutenant Governor Bee, 
Clu'istopher Gadsden was appointed Lieutenant Governor, 
and it was agreed that Colonel Charles Pinckney, Daniel 
linger, and John Lewis Gervais of the Council should go 
out with the Governor, and that Gadsden, with the 
remainder of the Council, Thomas Ferguson, David 
Ramsay, Richard liutson, and Benjamin Cattell should 
remain in the town; more to satisfy the citizens, says 
Gervais in his diary, than because of the propriety of the 
measure.^ It cannot escape observation, however, that 
in this division of the government the old party lines 
were followed, (xovcrnor Rutledge taking with him the 
conservative members of the Council, and Gadsden retain- 
in<r the most vioforous of his followers. Governor Rut- 
ledge and his party left the city on the 13th. Before he 
did so — that is, between nine and ten o'clock in the 
morning — the enemy opened all their guns and mortar 
batteries at once, being the first time they fired upon the 
town itself and from the front, and continued a furious 
cannonade and bombarding with little intermission till 
midnight, their batteries from Wappoo the meanwhile 
playing upon the left fiank of the besieged and the town. 
The houses in the city were much damaged, and several 
were fired and burnt. A child and its nurse were killed.'^ 
Lincoln, having thus got the Governor and a part of the 

1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. I, 139. 

' So. Ca. in the lievolution (Siinms), 121, quoting journal of John L. 
Oervai.s. 

3 Ibid., 121. A child of Myer Moses (Mclntush), 122. 

VOL. 111. 2 H 



466 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Council out of the town, called all the general officers to 
his quarters, where he gave them the first information in 
regard to the state of the garrison, its men, provisions, 
stores, artillery, etc., and announced to tliem the little 
hopes he had of any success of consequence and the opinion 
of the engineers that the fortifications were merely field 
works or lines, and could hold out but a few days more. 
With every information he could obtain of the numbers 
and strength of the enemy he was compelled, he said, to 
contemplate the necessitj^ of evacuating the town. Upon 
this General Mcintosh, Avithout hesitation, gave it as his 
opinion that, as they were so unfortunate as to suffer them- 
selves to be penned up and cut off from all sources, they 
should not lose an hour more in attempting to get the 
Continental troops at least out while they had one side 
open yet over Cooper River. He ui'ged that the salvation, 
not only of this State, but of others, depended upon this 
movement. But Lincoln, who had himself suggested tiie 
idea, did not have the nerve either at once to carry it out 
or definitely to reject it; hesitating and dallying with it, 
he bade the officers to consider maturely of tlie expediency 
and practicability of such a measure by the time he would 
send for them again. The cannonade of the enemy broke 
up the Council abruptly.^ Repeated efforts were made to 
get the Council of officers together again, but it was six 
days before it met,^ and then information had been received 
of disasters which rendered the evacuation now well-nigh 
impossible. 

General Huger had been left without the town, with 
Horry's horse, the remains of Pulaski's dragoons, and the 
recently ai-rived horse from Virginia. To these were 
added some militia of the country. The effort made on 
the 5th to surprise Colonel Washington at Middleton 

^ Mcintosh, So. Ca. in the lievolution (Siiiiius), 122. - Ibid. 



IN THE liEVOLl'TIUN 4G7 

Place had failed, and lie had skilfully retreated to the 
twenty-third mile house. From this point Washington 
fell farther l)aek, some twenty miles, to linger, now at 
Monek's Corner, at the head of the Cooper. This position 
commanded the forks and passes of that river and main- 
tained the communication with Charlestown by the roads 
through the parishes of St. John's Berkeley, St. Thomas, 
and Christ Church to Hobcaw and HaddrelFs Point, on 
its eastern shore. This force under Huger Sir Henry 
Clinton determined to break up, and thus cut off the town 
from the means of communication. On the 12th of April, 
therefore. Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton, who was then 
posted at the Quarter House on the Neck, six miles from 
Charlestown, was reenforced by INIajor Ferguson's corps of 
marksmen, and advanced to (loose Creek some ten miles 
farther toward Monck's Corner. Colonel Webster^ 
joined him on the following day with two regiments of 
infantry, the Thirty-third and Sixty-fourth. Tarleton 
again moved on in the evening with his own and Fergu- 
son's corps. It was determined to make the attack at 
night so as to render the superiority of Huger's cavalry 
useless ; profound silence was observed on the march. 
Fortune favored the British. A negro attempting to leave 
the road was secured by the advanced guard, and a letter 
was taken from his pocket written by an officer in General 
ringer's cani[i, which the negro was taking to the neigh- 
borliood of the town. The contents of this letter and the 
negro's intelligence proved lucky incidents to the enemy. 
Tarleton's information as to Huger's position was now 
complete. He knew that Huger's cavalry was posted in 
front of Cooper River, and that the militia were in a meet- 
ing-house which commanded Biggin's Bridge across the 

' I-iculenant Colonc! James Webster, an officer of high character, a 
Scotclmiaii by birth. 



468 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

though he endeavored to persuade his Excellency Lord 
Charles Montague, the Governor, that the whole charge 
was a device of the "Liberty Boys" to avenge them- 
selves upon him for doing his duty to his Majesty in the 
matter of the Stamp act, he made no impression upon 
the Governor, who suspended him until his Majesty's 
pleasure should be further known. ^ This man was Chief 
Justice during the important period of the struggle over 
the Stamp act. We shall have to tell of his conduct 
upon that occasion. 

The Gazette of the 15th of June, 1769, announces that 
a mandamus 2 for the appointment of Mr. William Wragg 
as Chief Justice had arrived. This appointment was no 
doubt made in recognition of Mr. Wragg's unwavering 
loyalty and devoted support of the government, not only 
in regard to the Stamp act and in opposition to the non- 
importation agreement, but on all the questions Avhich had 
arisen between the government at home and the people of 
the colony, and except that Mr. Wragg was not a lawyer, — 
a circumstance about which, as we have seen, the govern- 
ment was not very particular, — upon no person could the 
high honor have been more worthily bestowed. The office 
was oifered and even pressed upon Mr. Wragg by the 
Secretary of State, upon the express command of his 
Majesty King George the Third. His reasons for declin- 
ing are, as Dr. Ramsay says, a proof of his disinterested- 
ness and delicacy. He had openly, for reasons i)ublicly 
given, refused to sign the association entered into by 
many of his people to suspend the importation or jiurchase 
of manufactures till the impositions of the British Parlia- 

1 House Journal (MSS.), Book 37, 351. 

2 The writ or commission by which a Chief Justice was appointed was 
styled a manddinns, i.e. a precept commanding that the person named be 
recognized and obeyed as Chief Justice or other officer. 



UNDER THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT 469 

ment were removed. It was after he had adopted this 
decisive line of conduct that, without his knowledge, the 
commission of Chief Justice had been sent to him. He 
returned it, giving for reason that no man should say that 
" the hope of preferment had influenced his preceding con- 
duct." The next issue of the Grazette announced that Mr. 
Wragg declined the appointment, adhering to his pur- 
pose of retiring from all public affairs. This, however, 
we shall see was impossible for one of his position to do 
in the coming stormy time ; and he was to perish at sea, 
exiled from his native land and home. 

Upon the assumption of government by Lord North in 
1767 the affairs of the colonies were taken from the Board 
of Trade and intrusted to Lord Hillsborough as Secretary 
of State. His Lordship, who was an L-ishman, vacated, 
many existing commissions in the colonies to make room 
for his Irish dependents. In South Carolina Shinner's 
removal, and Mr. Wragg's refusal to take the office, saved 
him the trouble of vacating a commission, and the new 
Circuit Court act, which had at length gone in-to operation 
in 1772, afforded him three more paid offices on the Bench 
to be filled by his favorites. The last Chief Justice to sit 
under English rule was Thomas Knox Gordon, a lawyer 
of Dublin, who was appointed by Hillsborough in the 
latter part of 1770, but he did not take his seat until 1771. 
His commission did not constitute him Judge in Admi- 
ralty, as had been the case of some other of the Chief 
Justices. The assistant judges sent were Edward Savage, 
John Murray, and John Fewtrell; one of these, we are 
told, was a Scotchman, another a Welshman, the third 
we suppose was an Englishman. 

These great abuses in the administration of the law; 
the use of the Bench as a place of reward for partisan ser- 
vices iu England; strangers thus appointed even to the 



470 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

As soon as Colonel AVebster arrived at Biggin Bridge 
with his two regiments, he sent Tarleton at once to seize 
the boats and take possession of Bonneau's Ferry over 
the eastern branch of Cooper River, which was at once, 
and easily, done. The British, crossing first into St. 
Thomas's and then into Christ Church Parish, advanced, 
by way of Wappetaw Bridge, at the head of the Wando, 
to within six miles of Lempriere's Point, and Charlestown 
was completely invested. Lincoln's communications by 
Cooper Kiver would seem now to be pretty effectually cut 
off. But, strange to say, not only individuals, but some 
considerable bodies, subsequently succeeded in getting in 
and out of the town by this same way. Bnt Sir Henry 
Clinton was not satisfied with having secured the passes 
over the Cooper, and as Colonel Webster's command Avas 
not sufficient to guard all the roads through the country 
around, the British commander availed himself of the 
arrival of reenforcements from New York, for which he 

rendered. The writer of this, who was ordered on this expedition, 
afforded every assistance in his power, and had the Major put upon a 
table in a public house in the village, and a blanket thrown over him. 
The Major in his last moments was frequently insulted by the privates 
of the Legion. Some dragoons of the British Legion attempted to ravish 
several ladies at the house of Sir John Collington (Colleton) in the 

neighborhood of Monck's Corner. Mrs. , the wife of Dr. , of 

Charlestown, was most barbarously treated. She was a most delicate 

and beautiful woman. Lady received one or two wounds with a 

sword. Mrs. , sister to Major , was also ill treated. The ladies 

made their escape, and came to Monck's Corner, where they were pro- 
tected ; a carriage being provided, they were escorted to the house of 

Mr. . The dragoons were apprehended and brought to Monck's 

Corner, where by this time Colonel Webster had arrived and taken the 
command. The late Colonel Patrick Ferguson (of whom we shall have 
occasion to speak hereafter) was for putting the dragoons to instant 
death. But Colonel Webster did not consider that his powers extended 
to that of holding a general court-martial. 'Hie jirisoners were, however, 
sent to head(juarters. and I believe wore afterwards tried and whipped." 



IN THE KEVULUTIOX 471 

had scMit, ainountiiii,^ to three thousaiul meii,^ under Lord 
Kawdon, and detached Lord Cornwallis, with a hirge 
part of these, to a position east of the Cooper. 

In the meanwhile Sir Henry Clinton gradually but 
steadily advanced his approaches to the town. A slow 
but incessant lire was kept up fiom small arms, cannon, 
and mortars during the 13th and 14th, and on the 15th a 
battery of two guns opened from Stiles's Place on James 
Island 2 which played constantly on the toAvn at a distance 
of about a mile. This was called by the citizens "water- 
melon" battery .2 A shot from the battery on the 16th struck 
St. Michael's stcei)le and' carried off the arm of the statue 
of Pitt, which had been erected with so much rejoicing in 
1770.* The British bomb batteries were now advanced 
to within eight hundred yards of the lines of the town. 
On the 18th several casualties occurred; among others 
Mr. Philip Nyle, aide-de-camp to General Moultrie, Mas 
killed by a cannon-ball. It Avas now observed that the 
enemy did not throw large shells as they had done before, 
but showers of small ones from their mortars and howitzers, 
which proved very mischievous. The loss of the garrison 
this day, four killed and ten wounded. The news, too, 
now came that Huger had been surprised and totally 
routed, and that the enemy had crossed the Wando and 

1 Gordon's Am. War, vol. Ill, 353 ; Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 184. 

2 On Sir Henry Clinton's map this is put down as "Heyward's" 
riace. 

3 J()lin.son's Traditions. 

* Hist, of So. Ca. under Hoy. Gov. (McCrady), G77-(578. A very tragic 
event took place on the 17th. One of the militia,' who.se family lived in a 
small house on the south side of what is now Callioun Street, between 
King and Meeting streets, having obtained permission to leave the lines 
where he was .serving, had jii.st entered his home and was in the embrace 
of his wife when a ea:innn-ball killed them both at the same instant. 
Johnson's l^aditions, 2.')2. 



472 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

were at the church on Ilobcaw Neck. Upon the receipt 
of the news General Scott Avas at once sent over Cooper 
River with a body of light infantry to Lempriere's Point 
to keep open if possible the conimuni cation, as all the fresh 
provisions came from that quarter. But if the garrison 
could afford the detachment at all, why was it not made 
before and the point put in a condition of defence? If it 
could not be afforded before, it was useless now. As 
Timothy, in his journal, observed, " We generally begin 
things too late or are too long about them."^ 

The enemy continued their approaches on the I9th to 
within two hundred and lift}^ 3'ards of the lines of the 
town, and a considerable party showed themselves before 
the post at Lempriere's; they retreated, however, when 
fired upon. General Scott had no cavahy, but he mounted 
some men on his own and other officers' horses to recon- 
noitre ; while doing this he was summoned to the town to 
attend a council of war at General Moultrie's headquarters. 
Mcintosh tells ns that this council had been attempted 
repeatedly before at Lincoln's headquarters, but that it 
was so interrupted that no business could be done.^ What 
an insight does this passing remark of the journalist give 
of the condition of the garrison ! A general in command 
could not secure himself and his officers from interruption 
at his own headquarters, even to consider whether the town 
should be further defended or not! The proceedings of 
the council which now met were in keeping with this 
extraordinary ])eginning. Besides the general officers. 
Major General Lincoln, Brigadier Generals Moultrie, 
Mcintosh, Woodford, Scott, and Hogan, there were also 
Colonel Laumoy, the engineer in cliarge, Colonel Beek- 
man of the artillery, and Colonel Maurice Simons, com- 

^ So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simnis), 97. 
2 Ibid., 126. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 473 

inaiuliiis^ the Cliiirlestown militia. The subject of 
I'viicuatioii was again iiKXJted; indeed, Mcintosh says it 
had \)vv\i discussed repeatedly since their last meeting. 
The council was charged with the greatest secrecy as to 
its [)roceedings, as well as to any determination that might 
be taken. (ieneral Lincoln thereupon laid before the 
council the strength of the garrison, the state of the pro- 
visions, the situation of the enemy, the information he 
had received as to reenforcements, and the state of the 
obstructions which had been made in the river between 
the Exchange and Shutes's Foil}', and rec^uested the 
opinion of council as to what measures the interest and 
safety of the country called them to pursue under these 
present circumstances.^ 

Upon this request of General Lincoln, some of the 
officers expressed themselves still inclined to the evacua- 
tion, notwithstanding that the difficulties were much 
greater now than they were when discussed on the 13th. 
General McLitosh still was in its favor. He proposed 
leaving the militia for the guards in the garrison until the 
Continental troops left the town ; but this was opposed by 
Colonel Liuimoy, who was for offering terms of capitula- 
tion at once. And now a most extraordinary thing 
occurred. 

Li the midst of the conference Lieutenant Governor 
Gadsden, says Mcintosh, happened to come in, — whether 
l)y accident or design he did not know, — and thereupon 
(leneral Lincoln proposed that he might be allowed to sit 
as one of tlie council. What right had Lincoln to do this? 
Whether the Continental Congress had acted fairly to 
South Carolina in not doing more for her defence was a 
(question for the civil authorities of the State to consider. 
If Congress had, as many believed, determined to abandon 
1 Lincoln's f.itler to Washington {Year Book, 1897). 



47-4 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAltOLLNA 

the Soiithein States to their fate, it was for those States 
in their civil capacities to say whether or not they would 
continue the struggle or withdraw from the Union and 
make their own terms with the British. But until the 
civil authorities of the State had withdrawn it from the 
Union, the armies remained under the control of Consrress, 
and Lincoln, as its military officer, was solely responsihle 
for the troops under his command. The usages of war 
allowed him to consult his officers and take their opinions, 
iu order the more wisely to act. But the responsibility 
for decision he could not cast upon others; and no 
militar}' usage or custom permitted him to take civilians 
into his council. The question he had to decide was a 
military one. It was whether or not, in order to save the 
Continental troops for the general welfare, not only of the 
State of South Carolina, but of the whole confederacy, he 
should attempt to evacuate the town. This Avas a ques- 
tion not to be decided by a town meeting, but by the 
commander himself; and when he took Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Gadsden into council upon the subject he abandoned 
his prerogatives and shirked his responsibilit3\ From 
this time his position Avas scarcely more than that of a 
moderator in the discussions which w^ent on between the 
civil and military officers as to the abandonment of the 
town. In such a discussion, the dominant cliaracter of 
Gadsden was sure to assert itself; and from the moment 
he was allowed to take part in the council he became the 
master of it. The question from this time on was not 
whether Lincoln would evacuate or capitulate, but whether 
Gadsden would allow him to do so. (ladsden at once 
vigorously opposed the idea of either evacuation or capitu- 
lation. He expressed himself surprised and displeased 
that the idea had been entertained, though he acknowl- 
edged himself entirely ignorant of the state of provisions 



IN THE i: EVOLUTION 475 

and supplies. lie said, however, that he Avould consult 
his Council, and promised tliat if it was determined to 
ca[)itulatc he would send in an hour or two such terms as 
tlie Council required for the citizens of Charles town. 
Lincoln conunitted himself that no action would be taken 
without tlie consent of Gadsden and his Council. 

The military council adjourned to meet in the evening 
at General Lincoln's headquarters. Gadsden was not at 
first present, but Colonel Laumoy proceeded to lay before 
it the insufficiency of the fortifications, — if they were 
worthy of being called so, — the improbability of holding 
out many davs longer, and the impracticability of making 
good a retreat as the enemy were now situated, and per- 
suaded the council of the necessity of trying to obtain 
terms of honorable capitulation. But now came in not 
only Gadsden, but the rest of his Council along Avith him, 
that is, Messrs. Ferguson, Hutson, Cattell, and Dr. Ram- 
say; and, says INIcIntosh, they used the military council 
very rudel}'. The Lieutenant Governor protested against 
the proceedings. He undertook to speak for the militia, 
tiiough Colonel Simons, then commander, was present, 
and declared that the militia were willing to live upon 
rice alone rather than give up the town upon any terms — 
that even the old women were so accustomed to the enemy's 
sliot now that they travelled the streets witliout fear or 
dread; but he went on to say that if the military offi- 
cers were determined to capitulate he had his terms in 
liis jiocket ready. Upon this Mr. Ferguson, Gadsden's 
brother-in-law, broke out, and said that the inhabitants 
had observed, several days before, boats collected to carry 
off the Continental troops, but that they would keep a good 
watch upon the army, and if it Avere attempted he would 
be the first who would open the gates for the enemy and 
assist them in attacking the Continental troops before they 



476 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

got aboard. And Lincoln submitted to tbis threat! 
Knowing Gadsden, no doubt, well, lie bad invited bim to 
the council, and so must now take bis advice bowever 
dictatorily given. Witb any regard for bimself or bis 
position, witb any bope of respect for liis future command, 
General Lincoln sbould not liave allowed Ferguson to go 
from bis quarters, into which be bad come uninvited, 
except under arrest, and a prompt trial by court-martial 
for mutiny sbould bave followed. 

But it was not only from the civil autborities that 
General Lincoln was tbis evening to receive reproach. 
Soon after the Lieutenant Governor and Council bad gone, 
Colonel C. C. Pinckney came in abruptly, and forgetting, 
says Mclntosb, bis usual jjoliteness, addressed General 
Lincoln in great w^armth, and in mucb the same strain as 
the Lieutenant Governor bad done, adding that those who 
were for business required no council, and that be came 
over on purpose from Fort Moultrie to prevent anj^ terms 
being offered the enemy or evacuating the garrison ; and 
then, addressing bimself to Colonel Laumoy, charged the 
engineer department witb being the sole authors and j)ro- 
moters of any proj)osals. General Mclntosb declares that 
he was so much hurt by tbe repeated insults given to the 
commanding officer in so public a manner, and obliquely 
to them all through him, that be could not help declar- 
ing, as it was thought impracticable to get tbe Continental 
troops out, be was for holding tbe garrison, that is, main- 
taining the defence to the last extremity. Tbis was at 
once agreed to by every one but Colonel Laumoy, who 
insisted that they Avere already at the last extremity; and 
if tbe others were not of that opinion, he desire(^to know 
what they considered such extremity. But Gadsden had 
carried tbe day; it was determined to bold out, and the 
council ndjouriK'd foi- (lu^ iiiolit.' 

1 Mcintosh, So. Ca. in Ihc Il< niladdn CSiimns), 127-129. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 477 

It has been said that the citizens might well be indig- 
nant that, after being buoyed up with the assurances of 
tlie a(le([uaey of their defences and the suriiciency of their 
provisions and material for the siege, they should, when 
too late to remove their effects and their families, be told, 
at the very beginning of the bombardment, that defence 
was impossible.^ But this is unjust to Lincoln and can- 
not excuse Gadsden's conduct. The British forces had 
been gathering around Charlestown for six weeks before 
the free communication with the country was interrupted, 
and many of the citizens had availed themselves then of 
the opportunity of removing their families; and those who 
either had not the means to remove or had chosen to remain 
and take the chances of the siege, which no one doubted 
would be laid to the town, could not now blame Lincoln 
for the want of op[)ortunity. It is not probable that any 
one who had remained in the town had been in the least 
inlluenced in his action by any assurance of word or deed, 
by Lincoln, (iadsden's conduct can only be palliated by 
his WL'll-known devotion to the cause he had in a great 
measure inaugurated, by his patriotism which would 
brook no idea of submission, b}^ his indignation at the 
thought of falling a prisoner into the hands of his enemy, 
and by the weakness of Lincoln, which had lost him the 
conlidenc-e of the people. 

The 20lh of A[)ril was a fine, but cold and windy, da3\ 
T\\ o magazines on (Jibbes's Battery, near the west end of 
w hat is now South Battery, ^ Avere blown up by the enemy's 
shells ; fortunately only one man was hurt, but much other 
damage was done. The enemy's api)roaches continued. 
Lincoln again called the council together, and Colonel 

1 So. Va. hi tlir licrolution (Sininis), 128. 

2 Year Bank n/tht' Citii of CharU'xtiin, 1884 (Courtenay) ; The Siege of 
Churl cutoini, 1780 (Dc Saussiiri'), L".)5. 



478 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Lauraoy, notwithstanding Colonel Pinckney's reproaches 
the evening before, again urgently advised capitulation. 
He reiterated his opinion of the impossibility of the gar- 
rison holding out much longer, and the impracticability 
of retreat. The opposition now expected from the citizens 
of the town to the evacuation, the appearance of a large 
bod}^ of horse and foot of the enemy upon Wando Neck, 
and the fact that a number of the enemy's boats had been 
hauled across Charlestown Neck from Ashley into Cooper 
River, threatening to cut off all communication on that 
side, determined the council at last to come into Colonel 
Laumoy's proposal and to open negotiations with Sir 
Henry Clinton for capitulation. It does not appear 
whether Lincoln had before him the terms Avhich Gadsden 
had prepared to be required by the citizens, but in a 
moment of resolution he drew out the articles he would 
propose, prepared by him with no other assistance or advice 
than that of Colonel Ternant.^ 

On the 21st the fire from the batteries opened as usual. 
The killed and wounded had now become numerous. ^ 
Notwithstanding that Colonel Tinning of North Carolina 
with the regiments of militia, about two hundred, had 
managed to avoid the British and get into the town from 
Lempriere's Point, Lincoln sent out a flag to Sir Henry 
Clinton, saying that he was willing to enter into terms of 
capitulation if such could be obtained as were honorable 
for the army and safe for the inhabitants, and proposing 
a cessation of hostilities for six hours for the purpose of 
digesting such articles. Sir Henry Clinton replied that 
Admiral Arbuthnot should have been addressed jointly 
witli liim upon the occasion. And as he wished to com- 
municate with the Admiral he gave his consent to a cessa- 

1 Mcintosh, So. Ca. in the Eevolutiun (Simins), 130. 

2 Ibid. 



IN TFIE REVOLUTION 479 

tioii of hostilities for six hours. ^ This time was mutually 
extended by messengers between the parties. The follow- 
ing were the terms proposed by Lincoln: — 

(1) Tliat all acts of hostility and works should cease between the 
naval and land forces of Great Britain and America in this State 
until the articles of capitulation should be agreed on, signed, and 
executed or collectively rejected. 

(•J) Tiiat the Town, Forts, and Fortifications belonging to them 
(the Americans) should be surrendered to tlie Commander-in-chief 
of the Britisii Forces such as they now stand. 

(3) That the several troops garrisoning the Town and Forts in- 
cluding the French and American sailors, the French Invalids, the 
North Carolina and South Carolina militia, and such of the Charles- 
town militia as might choose to leave the place, should have thirty- 
six hours to withdraw to Lcmpriere's after the capitulation had been 
accepted and signed on both sides . . . and that those trooi^s should 
retire with the usual honors of war, and carry off during that time 
their arms, field artillery, ammunition, baggage, and such of tlieir 
stores as they might be able to transport. 

(1) That after the expiration of the thirty-six hours mentioned 
the liritish troops before the town should take i^ossession of it and 
those now at Wappetaw should proceed to Fort ^loultrie. 

(o) That the American army thus collected at Lempriere's should 
liave ten days from the expiration of the thirty-six hours before 
mentioned to march wherever General Lincoln might think proper 
to the eastward of Cooper River without any movement being made 
by the British Troops or part of them out of the Town or Fort 
Moultrie. 

(G) That the sick and wounded of the American and French 
Hospitals with their medicines, stores, the Surgeons and Directors 
General should remain in the town and be supplied with the neces- 
.saries requisite until provision could be made for their removal. 

(7) That no soldier should be encouraged to desert or permitted 
to enlist on either side. 

(S) That the French Consul, his house, papers and moveable 
property should be protected and untouched, and a proper time 
granted him for retiring to any place that might afterwards be 
agreed upon. 

* Siege of Chailestoion (Munsell), 90. 



480 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

(9) That the Continental ships of war, Boston, Providence and 
Ranger, tlien in the harbor (which had not been sunk) witli the 
French sliip of war Adrenture, should have liberty to proceed to sea 
with necessary stores on board and go unmolested, the three former 
to Philadeljiliia and the latter to Cape Fran9ois with the French 
Invalids mentioned in article >i^. 

(10) That citizens should be protected in their person and 
property. 

(11) That twelve months should be allowed such as would not 
choose to continue under the British government to dispose of their 
effects real and personal in the State without any molestation what- 
ever, or to remove such part as they chose, as well as themselves and 
their families, and that during that time they might have it at their 
option to reside occasionally in town or country. 

(12) That the same protection to their persons and properties, and 
the same time for the removal of their effects, should be given to the 
subjects of France and Spain residing in the town as are required for 
the citizens.^ 

Lincoln, of course, could have had no idea that such 
terms would be accorded him. The bare possession of 
the town without the land or naval forces which they had 
encompassed, and without a disloyal citizen recovered to 
the Crown, would scarcely have compensated Sir Henry 
Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot for the joint expedition, 
which had already occupied them four months, and for the 
loss of men and materials it had cost. Their object in 
coming was not to obtain possession of the site of Charles- 
town, but to put down rebellion and to restore to his 
Majesty the allegiance of his revolted subjects. And now 
they were asked to take the town with the loyal people 
who had required no armed force to reduce them to their 
allegiance and to let the rebels go, taking Iheir time and 
consulting their convenience in doing so. Tbougli we do 
not know that Lincoln had (ladsden's demands before him 
when he prepared these articles, we may be quite sure that 
* Siege of Charlestoivn (Munsell), 01, 95. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 481 

he bore tliem in mind wlicn he asked the British com- 
mander to grant these terms. Though he could not have 
e>c[)ected to obtain such articles of capitulation, he no 
doubt hoped that they would be made the basis of negotia- 
tion, during the progress of which he would obtain some 
rest for his garrison, and at least a brief season of repose 
and relief to the citizens during its progress. But the 
resjjite was not long. The answer soon came and was curt 
and decisive. In a communication from the camp before 
the town, dated eight o'clock at night, the British general 
and admiial replied that they had, in answer to Lincoln's 
third article, — for they could proceed no further, — to 
refer him to their former offer as terms which, though 
he could not claim, they yet consented to grant. They 
required, however, that these terms should be accepted 
immediately, and that responsible hostages, of the rank of 
field officers, should be sent as securities, that the customs 
of war should be strictly adhered to. 

A council of Avar was thereupon called by Lincoln, and 
the sul)ject of evacuation was discussed. But this was 
held "inadvisable because of the opposition made to it by 
the civil authorit}' and the inhabitants, and because even 
if they could succeed in defeating a large body of the 
enemy posted in their way, they had not a sufficiency of 
boats to cross the Santee before they might be overtaken 
by the whole British army." There was nothing left but 
a ca[)itulation. They could not yet, however, bring 
themselves to the terms offei-ed by Clinton and Arbuth- 
not.^ 

1 Moultrie's ^[cmoirs, vol. II, 77, 78. 



VOL. lit. — 2 I 



CHAPTER XXIII 

1780 

A HEAVY cannonade was kept up all of Saturday, the 
22d of April, and the approaches of the enemy continued. 
Supplies began to fail, and rations were reduced. Sunday, 
the 23d, passed much in the same manner, the British com- 
mencing their third parallel from eighty to one hundred 
and fifty yards from the American lines. ^ The only sally 
Avhich took place during the siege was made on iSIondu}', 
the 24th. A party of two hundred, detailed from the Vir- 
ginians and South Carolinians, under Lieutenant Colonel 
Henderson, sallied out at da3dight upon the enemy's 
approaches opposite tlie "half moon," or advanced battery, 
and completely surprised the enemy in their trenches. 
About fifteen were killed with the bayonet and twelve 
prisoners brought off, seven of whom were Avounded. The 
British attempted a rally to the support of tlieir comrades, 
but were repulsed. Strange to sa}^ no British officer was 
found with the detachment in the trenches which were thus 
surprised. Unhappily, Captain Thomas Moultrie, of the 
Second South Carolina Continental Regiment, a brother 
of General jVIoultrie, Avas killed; but with two privates 
wounded this was the only loss of the party. The wliole 
affair was over in a few moments, not a gun having been 
fired, but the bayonet only used. The retreat Avas effected 
in the greatest order. Tlie garrison Avas not strong enough 

1 Gordon's Am. War, vol. II, o54. 
482 



IX THE K EVOLUTION 483 

to risk anotlier sortie, however much encouraged by the 
success of this to cU) so.^ 

Colonel C. C. Pinckney, with the greater part of the 
First Soutli Carolina Regiment, Avhich had been stationed 
at Fort Moultrie, and Lieutenant Colonel Laurens, with 
his light infantry, which had been posted at Lempriere's, 
were at this time withdrawn into the town. The passage 
of the enemy's fleet had rendered Fort Moultrie of little 
use; but Lieutenant Colonel Scott with 110 of the First 
Kegiment and Hi militia were left to garrison tlie fort, 
for what i)urpose it is difficult to understand. A small 
party of North Carolinians, 75 in number, were sent over 
to replace Colonel Laurens's troops at Lempriere's, which 
was left under the command of Colonel Maimed}'.^ The 
day whieh had opened so auspiciously with the successful 
sally closed with the loss of a valued officer. Colonel 
Kiehaid Parker of Virginia having discovered a party of 
the enemy working near the half-moon battery, returned 
to direct a fire upon them, and while looking over the 
parapet to do so was killed by a rifle ball. An incessant 
fire of cannon and small arms was kept up all this day, 
causing a considerable loss to the garrison. Colonel 
Pinckney and Colonel Laurens upon coming into the town 
undertook to sujiply the garrison with fresh beef from 



^ So. Ca. ill the Jifvohition (Simms), 1.34. 

'- CdIoiu'I Miilniecly, a Frfiich officer, in the early part of the war 
scrve;l in Hhode Island, and was commissioned by that State Brigadier 
General. The ai)pointment by Congress to the rank of C'olonel in the 
Continental service. May 10, 1777, he thought inconsistent with his 
previous one, and made it the subject of complaint to General Wash- 
ington. Clinton-Cunnrallis Controversy, vol. II, Index. He commanded 
the North Carolina nulitia at Eutaw, and is said to have held a com- 
mission from North Carolina. Xo. Cu., 17S0-81 (Schenck), 450. He is 
not mentioned in the list of French oflicers who served in the Continen- 
tal army. 



484 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Lempiieie's Point; but, iiiifortunately, the first and only 
cattle butchered were allowed to spoil and utterly lost 
through neglect or mismanagement. 

Between twelve and one o'clock on Tuesda}' morning, 
the 25th, there was a heavy fire from the advanced redoubt, 
which extended to the right of the lines upon what was 
supposed to be the enemy's advancing column. Several 
hurrahs had been given, and cries of the British calling 
the garrison " blood}^ dogs " were heard, but whether they 
had advanced beyond the trenches Mcintosh, who was on 
duty there, was unable to say. It was forty or fifty min- 
utes before he could stop the waste of ammunition. The 
enemy returned the fire smartly and threw several light 
balls and carcasses into the town. About two o'clock in 
the afternoon Lord Cornwallis, who, after the defeat of 
Huger at Monck's Corner, had crossed the Cooper and 
moved around the head of the Wando, with about three 
thousand men, advanced from Wappetaw Bridge and took 
possession of Haddrell's Point on the mainland, between 
Fort Moultrie and Lempriere's, thus effectually cutting 
off the small garrison at Fort Moultrie.^ 

On Wednesday, the 26th, Brigadier General Duportail 
arrived, having made his way through the investing forces, 
and brought with him a letter from General Washington, 
recommending him to General Lincoln as an engineer of 
whose abilities and merits he had the highest opinion. 
'Washington wrote that Lincoln would find him of clear 
and com[)rehensive judgment, of extensive militar}' sci- 
ence, and of great zeal, assiduity, and bravery. ^ His zeal 

1 So. Ca. in the Eet'olntion (Simins), 134. 

2 Louis Lebique Duportail, a French officer, Colonel of Engineers. 
July 8, 1777 ; Chief of Engineers, July 22, 1777 ; Brigadier General of En- 
gineers, November 17, 1777 ; subsequently Minister of War in France, 
liy a letter of his of November 12, 1777, to the Count de St. Germain, 



I.N THE i; EVOLUTION 485 

and hniveiy lie li;ul certainly shown in making his Avay 
into the town; hut he hrought witli him no encouraging 
prospect of retinforcement to relieve the siege. On the 
contrary, he informed Lincoln that Congress had only pro- 
posed to General Washington the sending of the Maryland 
line;^ that even this small reenforcement had not been 
decided upon when he left, though it was known to Con- 
gress that Lord llawdon was about to sail from New York 
with a force of twenty-five hundred men to reenforce Sir 
Henry Clinton, ^ which troops had, in fact, reached Charles- 
town before (Jeneral Duportail had reached Lincoln. As 
soon as (rcneral Duportail came into the garrison, exam- 
ined the works, and looked at the investing forces, he con- 
lirmcd the opinion which had been expressed by Colonel 
Laumoy, pronounced the works not tenable, and expressed 
his conviction that the British might have taken the town 
ten days before. He wished to leave the garrison imme- 
diately, but General Lincoln would not allow him to do 
so, because it would dispirit the troops. A council of 
war was, however, called to consider his report and 
it was again proposed to attempt an evacuation with 
the secret withdrawal of the Continental troops. But 
the citizens again interfered; some of them came in 
and, expressing themselves very warmly, declared to Lin- 
coln that if he attem[)tcd to withdraw his troops, they 
Mould cut up his boats and open the gates to the enemy. 
This, he says, put a stop to all thoughts of evacuation; 

tlit-n MiiiistiT of War in France, it appears that however highly thought 
nf by (Jeneral Washington, lie was in this country, not from .any love of 
Ainerioans, or Interest in their independence, but solely in the interest 
of France — just as it is now known that l)e Kalb was. See Steadnian's 
Am. War, vol. I. :190 ; Garden's Anecdotes, 213 ; Washington's Writings, 
vol. VI, 404. 

' So. Ca. in the lievnlution (Simms), 135. 

« Washington's Writini/.'^, vol. VI, 4514 ; vol. VII, 6. 



486 IIISTOKY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

nothing was left but to make the best terms they could. ^ 
Tlie shells were now doing much mischief. There were 
the usual killed and wounded; among them this day 
Lieutenant Philips, of Russell's Virginia Regiment, was 
killed, and Captain Goodwyn, of the 'J'hird South Caro- 
lina, wounded. Provisions were running shorter, and the 
allowance was curtailed. The houses of the citizens were 
searched, and some discovered, inadequate, however, to 
the supplies necessary ; but the garrison, notwithstand- 
ing, continued in high spirits. ^ During this Wednesday 
night Colonel JNlalmed}^ retreated with his detachment in 
great confusion from Lempriere's Point, after spiking four 
eighteen-pounders they left behind. The British imme- 
diately took [)ossession, and the next morning their flag 
M'as flying at this post. The investment of Charlestown 
was now accomplished; every avenue of esca{)e was closed. 
The line of investment, commencing from James Island, 
immediately south of tlie town, running across Wappoo, 
passed over the Ashley at Gibbes's Landing, their held 
works crossing the Neck from Coming's Point on the 
Ashley to Hampstead on the Cooper; and now Lem- 
priere's Point, Hobcaw, and Haddrell's on the east side 
of the Cooper were all in possession of the enemy. 
The fleet in the harbor connected their lines from Had- 
drell's to James Island, and the circle was complete, 
except that Coopei- River was still open ; but Lord Corn- 
wallis was in possession of all the country l)ordering on it 
on the east, and Sir Henry Clinton'guarded all its pas- 
sages on the west. Yet, notwithstanding this, parties 
occasionally avoided the vigilance of the enemy and made 
their way out or in. On the 28th Major Lowe ^ and 

1 Moultrie's Mpmoirs, vol. II, 80. 

2 So. Ca. in the lievolntion (Simms), 1.35. 

" Pliilip Lowe of North Carolina, formerly of Second North Carolina ; 
now Major, Third Georgia. 



IN THE DEVOLUTION 487 

several other siipernumertiry officers quitted the garrison 
and made good their way out.^ 

The enemy's batteries were remarkably silent during 
the day of the 29th. The British were busy pushing on 
their third parallel. But that night there was a heavy 

^ So. Ca. in the lieculiition (Simins), 137. 

Just before the lines were thus closed an incident hai)pened which, 
then without sigiiiticance, proved afterward to have been of great im- 
portance if it had been understood. William Johnson, who, it will be 
remembered, was the first to organize the Liberty Tree party, and was 
throughout all the events which led up to the Revolution Gadsden's 
great sujjport, was then serving as a cannoneer in Captain Ileyward's 
company of the Charlestown battalion of artillery, stationed during 
most of the siege at the hornwork in the centre of the lines. Going 
in on a visit to the town on leave about this time, he called to see a sick 
frientl, .Stephen Shre\v.sbury, at the house of his brother Edward Shrews- 
bury, who was a Loyalist. There he saw a stranger dressed in home- 
spun, and asked Edward Shrewsbury who he was, and was told that the 
stranger was a back countryman who had brought down cattle for the 
garrison to the opposite side of the river. The answer being prompt and 
plausible, nothing more was thought of the circumstance. But eighteen 
months aftcrwani, while William Johnson was in Philadelphia, where he 
had been sent with the exiles from Charlestown who had been confined 
in St. Augustine, — just after the discovery of Arnold's treason and the 
execution of Major Andr^, — he met his old friend Stephen Shrewsbury, 
who reminded him of this incident, and asked if he I'cmembered seeilig 
at his brother's house a man dressed in homespun. And upon Johnson's 
recalling the circumstance, Stephen Shrewsbury went on to say that the 
man was no other than Major Andr^ in disguise. That while he was 
sick in his brother's house he was introduced to and repeatedly saw a 
young man in hoiu<'spun dress who was introduced to him as a Virginian 
connected with tlie line of that State then in the town, but that after the 
fall (if Charlestown he met and was introduced to Major Aiidr^ at his 
brother's, and in him at once recognizeil the Virginian whom he had 
seen during the siege. That his brother acknowledged that it was so, 
but a.sserted his own ignorance of it at the time. If this story, which is 
well authenticated, is true, it appears that the occasion upon which 
Andr^ was captured and executed was not his first exploit within the 
American lines." 

a Johnson's TfadUions, 255; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 209, note. 



488 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

bombardment. Sunday, the 30th, passed in mucli the 
same wa^-, except that Lincoln received through the lines 
a letter from Governor Rutledge, encouraging him to hope 
for reenforcements, which would perhaps require Clinton 
to raise the siege. Governor Rutledge upon leaving the 
town endeavored to form two camps, one between the 
Cooper and the Santee, and the other on the Santee at 
Lenuds's Ferry. John Lewis Gervais, writing at the time 
from Georgetown, was in great hopes they would have, 
during the week from the 28th of April, 1500 or 2000 men 
on the Charlestown side of the Santee. They expected 
General Caswell from North Carolina with 1000 men. 
General Williamson was expected at Orangeburgh with 
possibl}^ 900, — certainly 600, — and Colonel Thomson had 
there 200. There were also 400 Virginians, Buford's com- 
mand,^ at Nelson's Ferry on the Santee, about thirty miles 
from Orangeburgh, and the remains of the horse which 
had escaped from Monck's Corner were at Murray's Ferry, 
some twenty miles farther down the river. All these 
troops had been ordered to rendezvous at Lenuds's Ferry, 
about twenty miles from Murray's Ferry. And they 
hoped to throw a supply of provisions during the week 
inito the town. Before the Aveek was over, it will be seen, 
Tarleton had again routed the cavalry at Lenuds's Ferry, 
and Fort ]\Ioultrie, Avhich had alread}- been cut off, was in 
the hands of the enemy. But for the present the hopes 
were cheering, and Lincoln, on the 1st of May, congratu- 
lated his army in general orders upon the prospect of 
reopening their communications with the country. But 
an incident immediately occurred which greatly dampened 
the confidence of the garrison. 

It became necessary to send some intelligence to Gov- 

1 Colonel Abraham Buford, Tliinl Virginia Regiment. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 489 

ernor Rutledge, and his brother, Mr. Edward Rutledge, 
was st'lcctud fur the purpose. About tlie same time 
Colonel Malmedy, having no command and having become 
unpopular in the garrison, because of his retreat from 
Jjcmpriere's Point, was advised to quit the town. He and 
Mr. Rutledge, who had served till this time with reputation 
as captain in the Charlestown battalion of artillery, set 
out together in a boat with two others who, strange 
to sa}-, it afterward appeared were suspected characters. 
They were captured.^ Mr. Rutledge, unfortunately, had 
allowed himself, through the importunity of his friend, 
Mr. Benjamin Smith, to be betrayed into an act of indis- 
cretion, which was most unhappy in its results. He had 
taken a letter from Mr. Smith addressed to his wife, then 
at her father's in North Carolina. As the roads were now 
everywhere beset, the communication to the Governor had 
been confided to Mr. Rutledge orally, and, it is said, with 
the strictest injunction to take no written communication 
from the garrison. A letter addressed by a friend to liis 
wife, under assurance that it was onl}' a family lettei-, 
Mr. Rutledge unwarily considered as no violation of his 
instructions. He was captured, as we have said, soon 
after he left the town, and printed copies of the letter were 
next day thrown into the garrison in unloaded bombshells, 
and most unaccountably through a secret agency dispersed 
through all parts of the town in printed handbills. The 
letter plainly told that the garrison must soon surren- 
der, their provisions were ex[)ended, and Lincoln only 
]>revented from capitulating by a point of etiquette. 
I'rom this time hope deserted the garrison, whilst the 

* So. Ca. in (he Jievoliidon (Simms), 144. Mcintosh tells the story 
of an attempted eseai)e of Colonel Malmedy, and of his being killed, 
but this was a mistake. He certainly was not killed. We shall lind 
him in command of a part of the line at Eutaw. 



490 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAHOLINA 

reanimated efforts of the enemy showed their zeal 
reviveil.^ 

1 Joliiison's IJfc (if Grcpne, vol. I, •lH). The followini,' cnpy of this letter 
is found in Steaduian's Am. War, vol. II, 181 ; also in Memoirs of the. 
War of '76, la-J: — 

" Charlestown, April oO, 1780. 

" Having never had an opportunity of writing to her since the enemy 
began to act with vigor, and knowing that a thousand evil reports will 
prevail to increase her uneasiness — mine I have supported pretty well 
until last night, when I really almost sunk under the load. Nothing 
remains around to comfort me but a probability of saving my life. . . . 
After going through many difficulties, our affairs are daily declining, and 
not a ray of hope remains to us of success. . . . The enemy have turned 
the siege into a blockade, which in a short time must have the desired 
effect, and the most sanguine do not now entertain the smallest hope 
of the town being saved. The enemy have continued their approaches 
with vigor continually, since I wrote the inclosed, and are now complet- 
ing batteries two hundred yards distance from our lines; they fire but 
seldom from their cannon, but their popping off rifles and small arms do 
frequent mischief, and every night they throw out an amazing number of 
shells amongst our people in the lines, which, though not attended with 
the damage that might reasonably be expected, do some mischief. ( >ur 
comnmnication is entirely cut off from the country (excepting by a small 
boat at great riscjue) by Lord Corinvallis, who occupies every landing 
place from Iladdrell's Point a considerable way up the river, with two 
thousand five hundred men. When I wrote last it was the general 
opinion that we could evacuate the town at pleasure ; but a consider- 
able reenforcement having arrived to the enemy, has enabled them to 
strengthen their poits so effectually as to prevent that measure. The 
same cause prevents our receiving supplies of provisions or rcenforcc- 
ments, and a short time will plant the British standard on our ramparts. 
You will see by the inclosed summons that the persons anil properties 
of the inhabitants will be saved ; and consequently I expect to have the 
liberty of soon returning to you ; but the army nnist be made prisoners 
of war. Tliis will give a rude shock to the independence of America; 
and a Lincdlnaile will become as common as a Burgoynade. But I hope 
we shall in time recover this severe blow. However, before this happens, 
I hope I shall be permitted to return home, where I will stay, as my 
situation will not permit nu^ to take any fuitlier an active part ; and 
therefore my abandoning my iiropciiy will suhjcct me to many incon- 
veniences and losses without being in any way serviceable to the coun- 



IN TIIK ItHVOLUTloX 401 

The siege progressed during tlie 2d and 3d of May with- 
out special incident except that the enemy tlirew in shells 
charged with rice and sugar by way of taunt to the sup- 
posed wants of the garrison. On the 4th a I'ation of meal 
was reduced to six ounces, but coffee and sugar was still 
allowed to the soldiers. Nothing of importance took 
place on the otli and (Ith; but on Sunday, the 7th, the 
frarrison in town saw the Brilisli ensicrn float in gr from Fort 
Moultrie, where Jasper had planted the flag with the 
crescent on the 28th of June, 1776. 

The British, being now in possession of Mount Pleasant 
at Iladdrell's Point, acquiied full information in regard 
to the state of the garrison and defences of Fort Moultrie. 
Upon tliis, and in order not to draw upon the arm^^ which 
was fully occu[)icd elsewhere, Admiral Arbuthnot landed 
a body of seamen and marines, under the command of Cap- 
tain Hudson, to attempt the fort by storm on the west and 
northwest faces, while the ships of the squadron battered it 
in front. The garrison, under Lieutenant Colonel Scott, 
consisting now of but two hundred men, seeing the hope- 
lessness of resistance and the impossibility of their escape, 
on the 7th of May accepted the terms of capitulation offered 

try. . . . This letter will rnn great risque, as it will be surrounded on all 
silk's, but I know the person to whose care it is committed, and feel for 
your uneasy situation I could not but trust it. Assure yourself that 
I shall shortly see you, as nothing prevents Lincoln's surrender but a 
point of honor in holding out to the last extremity. This is nearly at 
hand, as our provisions will soon fail ; and my plan is to walk off as soon 
as I can obtain permission. . . . Should your father be at home, make 
him acquainted with the purport of the letter, and remember me to him, 
also to your motlier ; but do not let the intelligence go out of the house, 
. . . but a mortifying .scene must be encountered. The thirteen stripes 
will be levelled in the dust, and I owe my life to the clemency of a 
conqueror. 

" Your ever affectionate husband, 

" B. Smith." 



492 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAllOLTNA 

them. Tliey were allowed to marcli out with the usual 
honors of war. The officers in garrison, as well Conti- 
nental as militia, with the non-commissioned officers and 
privates of the militia, were to be considered as prisoners 
of war at large on their parole, and to be allowed to reside 
with their families and friends anywhere but in Charles- 
town, while it was under siege. ^ Moultrie, in his 
Memoirs, complains that the fort was given up without 
firing a gun. It was natural that Moultrie should be 
sensitive of the fame of the fort, which had been hallowed 
by his glorious victory four years before. But his own 
battles had shoAvn that the fort could easily be passed by 
a fleet which would not stop to engage it, and that when 
once passed it could be enfiladed with little difficulty by 
ships 13'ing off the west end of the island. Still more was 
it plain that after Commodore Whipple's fleet had been 
withdrawn from defending his position, and after Colonel 
Pinckney, witli the greater [)art of the garrison, had also 
been withdrawn into the town, there was nothing left to 
Colonel Scott, cut off as he was from all supplies and 
retreat, but to make the best terras he could when assaulted. 
The terms which he did obtain were better than those 
which Lincoln was compelled to accept for the garrison in 
Charlestown a few days after. There was, however, great 
rejoicing in the British camp at the surrender of the fort. 
In a journal of the operations before Charlestown a British 
writer records: "Fort Moultrie the Great has fallen! The 
morning of the 7th of May the Britisli flag was displayed 
on its ram{)art. It surrendered to a detachment of seamen 
and maiines commanded by Captain Hudson of the liich- 
moud, witliout firing a gun."^ The writer did not add, as 
he should have done, that the surrender of the little iso- 

1 Tarlcton's C(nnp(ii(iiis, 53. 

2 Slcfje of CharlcMovn (Mnnsoll), 127. 



IN TIIK llKVOLrTION' 493 

lated garrison was made only when all "the honors of 
war'' were accorded to it.^ But the British Hag floating 
over Fort Moultrie was no doubt a great blow to the gar- 
rison in town. Its moral effect was most dispiriting. 
Another disaster was barely escaped on this daj-: a thir- 
teen-inch shell fell within ten yards of the principal maga- 
zine of the garrison. Tlie magazine stood near St. Philip's 
Ciiurch.2 Fortunately, Moultrie had before removed ten 
thousand pounds of powder from it to tlie northeast corner 
of the Exchange, where it remained undiscovered by the 
British during the long period while they held the city, 
the })recaution having been taken to brick it up. 

Still another disaster, to which we have before alluded, 
had befallen, of which the garrison was not yet aware. The 
remains of Iluger's cavalry, after the surprise of Monck's 
Corner, withdrew to the north side of the Santee for 
security, where Colonel White of Moylan's Regiment 
took the couHuand. This ofticer discovering that Lord 
Cornwallis extended his foraging parties to the southern 
banks of the river, determined to interrupt the collection 
of his supplies, l.^pon the first notice of the enemy's 
approach he passed the Santee and struck at the foe, broke 
up the forage excursion, captured most of the party, with 
which he retired to Lenuds's Ferry, upon the Santee. 
There he had ordered boats to meet him, at the same time 
communicating the success to Lieutenant Colonel Buford, 
— who, with the remainder of the Virginia line, had reached 
that near Charlestown, and was now stationed on the 
north side of the river, — requiring his aid in the transpor- 
tation of himse'lf and his prisoners to the opposite shore. 
How it ha[)[)ened ^says Lee in his Memoirs — was not 

1 Tarlpton's Cnmpnirinsf, T).'?. 

- 'I'lu' l)iiililinix ninains still tn be seen in a lot on Cumbeilaiul Street, 
ailjoiiiiii^ St. l'liilii)'s tliurcliyard. 



494 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ascertained, but it did liappen that neither Biiford's 
cooperation nor the boats ordered by White were oljtained 
in time; and Colonel White, expecting instantly the 
means of conveyance, waited incautious]}- on the southern 
bank of the river, instead of seeking cover. 

Tarleton, who happened, on tlie 6th of IMay, to be on 
his march to Lenuds's Ferry with his cavalry, sent thither 
by the British general to procure intelligence, falling in 
with a Royalist, was informed of Wldte's success, and 
instantly pressed forward to strike him. He came up with 
White's cavalry on the banks of the Santee, and repeated 
the rout of Monck's Corner. The knowledge of the coun- 
try was a second time beneficial to the fugitives; the 
swamp saved some, while others swam the river. Between 
thirty and forty only were killed and taken ;i but the 
force was again dispersed. John Lewis Gervais, however, 
gives another account, which explains how it ha[)pened 
that Colonel White was not supported. He says that the 
plan was for Colonel White to march from Georgetown on 
Thursday evening with the cavahy, and to take three hun- 
dred foot from Colonel Buford to surprise a body of the 
enemy which was at Wambaw, Elias Ball's plantation. 
The arrangement was made with Colonel Buford, and 
acting upon it Colonel White crossed the river, but did 
not meet with the infantry; on the contrary, he received 
a note from Colonel Buford, that he could not send them, 
and wisliing him success. Colonel White determined 
nevertheless to venture near the enemy in hopes of falling 
in with some of their parties, and went as far as Wambaw, 
where he took an officer and thirteen privates, and retreated 
with them to Lenuds's Ferr}', at Avliich place the eiuuny 
overtook and completely routed him. Tarleton again 

^ Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 15n ; Tarleton's Campaigns, 19. 



IN' THH i:evolutiox 495 

secured fifty or sixty lioisos, and his dragoons plundered 
everything within their reach. ^ 

On Monday, the 8Lh of May, Sir Henry Clinton sent in 
another summons to the town. He wrote to Lincoln: — 

'' C'iicuiiistaiiced as I now am with respect to the place invested 
liiiinanity only can iiidnce nie to lay within vonr reach the terms I 
liad determined should not again be proffered. The fall of Fort 
Sullivan, the destruction (on the G'l" instant) of what remained of 
your cavalry, the critical period to which our approaches against the 
town have brought us, mark this as the term of your hopes of succour 
(could you ever have framed any), and as an hour beyond which 
resistance is temerity. By this last summons, therefore, I throw to 
your charge whatever vindictive severity exasperated soldiers may 
inflict on the unhappy people whom you devote by preserving in a 
fruitless defence. I shall expect your answer until eight o'clock, when 
liostilities will commence again unless the town be surrendered," etc.^ 

r[»on tlie receipt of the sunnnons Lincoln called a coun- 
cil of ollicers, numbering sixty in all, including all the 
lield ollicers of the militia and the captains of the Conti- 
nental frigates.^ He did not invite Lieutenant Governor 
(xadsden to be present, but sent a message by Colonel 
Simons requesting him to submit whatever propositions 
lie desired for tlie citizens.'* Upon the assembling of this 
council he laid bi'fore them Clinton's summons. It re- 
(juircd time lo obtain the opinion of so numerous a bod}^ 
and to allow Gadsden to submit his requirements. Lincoln 

' So. Ca. ill the Rivulutiitn (Siinnis), 152. 

-Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 8G ; Ramsay's lievolution, II, 400; 
Sieye :if Chdrletitnirn (Munsell), 90. 

^ For the nicnibers of this council and their votes see Lincoln's papers, 
imblished in Year Jinok i if the City of Charh'ston, 1807 (Smyth), .340, 357. 
Colonels C. C. Pinckney and Barnard Beckman, Lieutenant Colonels 
William Henderson, John Laurens, vSamuel Hopkins, Matthew Clarkson, 
and Kichard C Anderson, with Captains of the Continental frigates 
Hacker, Ratldiuni, Tucker, and Simpson, eleven out of the sixty, voted 
against capitulation. 

♦ Johnson's Traditions, 2G0. 



496 HISTOUY OF SOUTH CAIIOLINA 

therefore wrote to Clinton that there were so many dif- 
ferent interests to be consulted, he proposed that hostil- 
ities should not commence again before twelve o'clock. 
This was assented to. Later, Lincoln again Avrote that 
more time had been expended in consulting the different 
interests than lie had supposed, and requested tliat the 
time should be extended until four o'clock. This was 
also granted. 

It will be recollected that in the former attempt at a 
negotiation, the British commanders had i-efused to go 
any farther than the third article })roposed by Lincoln, in 
which he attempted to secure a provision that the troops 
comprising the garrison, and such of the Charlestown 
militia as chose to leave the place, should have thirty -six 
hours to withdraw to Lempriere's Point, retiring with the 
usual honors of war and all their arms, artillery, ammu- 
nition, baggage, and stores. Instead of this, they had 
referred Lincoln to their first summons, which offered only 
the saving of the lives and property of the inhabitants 
contained in the town. Lincoln now offered (3) that the 
Continental troops with their baggage should be conducted 
to a place to be agreed on, where they should remain pris- 
oners of war until exchanged, and that while prisoners they 
should be supplied with good and wholesome provisions, 
in such quantity as were served out to the troops of his 
Britannic Majesty. (4) He asked that the militia and the 
garrison should be permitted to return to their respective 
homes, and be secured in their persons and properties. 

(5) Renewed his demand as to the care of the sick. 

(6) He asked that the officers of the army should be 
allowed to keep their horses, swords, pistols, and baggage, 
which should not be searched, and retain their servants. 

(7) That the garrison should march out with all the 
honors of war, as he had before asked. (8) That the 



TN THE l: EVOLUTION 497 

French Consul slioukl bo protected, as before demandecl, 
and a proper time given liini for retiring to any place that 
might be agreed u[)()n. (0) That the citizens should be 
])rotected in their lives and propert}'. (10) He renewed 
the proposition that twelve months' time should be allowed, 
all such as did not choose to continue under the British 
government to dispose of their effects and remove them- 
selves and their families, as he had before made it. 
(11 ) He asked that the same protection to their persons 
and properties and right of removal of their effects should 
be given the subjects of France and Spain as were required 
for the citizens. And lastl}' (12) he asked that a vessel 
should be permitted to go to Philadelphia with the Gen- 
eral's dispatches, which were not to be opened. The 
demand in his former articles as to the Continental and 
French ships of war was not renewed. 

Upon the receipt of these offers Sir Henry Clinton, at 
half after five p.m., asked for time that he might communi- 
cate with the Admiral upon the subject, and that an aide- 
de-camp might be permitted, for the purpose, to pass to 
his fleet, that is, down the Ashley from Gibbes's Landing. 
This Avas of course assented to; and at six o'clock p.m., 
in order to give the articles of capitulation due considera- 
tion, he [)roposed that the cessation of hostilities should 
continue until the next morning at eight o'clock, and 
that in the meantime everything should continue in its 
present situation. Lincoln at once acceded to this; but 
Sir Henry sent another letter, more explicitly declar- 
ing that his meaning was that during the time there 
sliould be no attempt made to remove any of the troops or 
destroy any of the sliips, stores, or other effects. Lincoln 
assented to this also, and the garrison and town enjoyed 
a niglit of complete rejjose. Indeed, Moultrie says that 
while these flags were passing the militia looked upon all 
VOL. in. — 2 It 



498 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the business as settled, and, without orders, took up their 
baggage and Avalked into town, leaving the lines quite 
defenceless. 

The next morning, the 9th, Clinton and Arbuthnot sent 
in the modilications of the articles proposed Ijy Lincoln, 
which they required. These principally related to the 
treatment of the militia and the citizens of the town. As 
had been doubtless required by Gadsden, Lincoln proposed 
that the militia should be permitted to return to their 
respective homes and be secured in their persons and 
properties; and that the citizens should be protected in 
their lives and their properties, and should be allowed 
twelve months to choose whether to continue under the 
British government or not. Clinton and Arbuthnot con- 
sented that the militia then in garrison should be permitted 
to return to their respective homes, but added the impor- 
tant condition, upon the observance of whicli, on the one 
side and on the other, so much afterward turned, namely, 
that they should be regarded as prisoners of war upon pa- 
role^ ivhich parole, so long as they obsei'ved it, sJiould secure 
them from being molested in their property by the British 
troops. As to the citizens, they required that all civil 
officers and the citizens who had boine arms during the 
siege must also be prisoners on parole, and with respect to 
their property in the city should have the same terms as 
were granted to the militia. It was also required that all 
persons then in the town, not described in these articles, 
were to be understood to be prisoners on parole. They 
declined to entertain the proposition in regard to the right 
of citizens to choose whether they would continue British 
subjects. They agreed to allow the French Consul })rotec- 
tion as to his house, papers, and property, but required 
that he should consider himself a prisoner on parole, the 
subjects of France and Spain to have the same terms as 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 499 

the Consul. The officers' horses were not to go out of 
town, but might be disposed of by a person to be appointed 
for the purpose. They declined to allow the full honors 
of war to the garrison, but rec^uired them to march out at 
an hour appointed to a [)lace designated, Avhere they should 
tleposit their arms. The drums were not to beat a Brit- 
ish march, nor their colors to be uncased. They agreed to 
allow a vessel to go to Philadelphia, with the General's 
dis[)atches unopened, and promisetl to provide a vessel for 
the purpose. They required that all public papers and 
records should be carefully preserved and faithfully 
delivered. 

Lincoln and his council were not yet ready to yield to 
these demands and give up the effort to obtain better 
terms for the militia and citizens. He wrote therefore to 
Clinton that in their present state the conditions proposed 
were inadmissible and [)roposed modifications, which he 
sent. If any further explanation should be necessar}', he 
proposed that two or three gentlemen might be appointed 
to meet and confer on the subject. The points he insisted 
upon were (1) that the militia should not be considered as 
prisoners of war; (2) that such officers as were unwilling 
to dispose of their horses might keep them; (3) that the 
garrison should march out, the drums beating a British 
march; (4) that the French Consul, never having borne 
aims, but acting in a civil capacity, should not be consid- 
ered as a prisoner of war; (5) that the citizens should 
not be considered prisoners of war; (6) that the article in 
regard to the right of citizens to choose, within a given 
time, to which government they would adhere, should be 
retained, giving them paroles that they Avould not act 
against tlie British government until they were ex- 
changed; (7) that the article in regard to the French 
and Sp;niish subjects should stand as he had proposed; 



500 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and, finally, that in order to prevent disputes it was to 
be understood that all officers of the Continental army who 
were citizens of the State should be entitled to all the 
benefits of citizens with regard to the security of their 
property- 
Clinton and Arbuthnot upon receiving these reiterated 
demands, which they had already refused, curtly replied 
that no other motives than those of forbearance and com- 
passion induced them to renew offers of terms Lincoln had 
no claim to. The alterations he proposed were utterly 
inadmissible, and that hostilities would in consequence 
commence afresh at eight o'clock.^ 

When that hour in the evening arrived, it found the 
soldiers of both armies standing to their guns ; but an 
hour passed, both sides remaining silent, all calm and 
ready, each waiting for the other to begin. At length the 
garrison, to show their determination to stand to the terms 
demanded by them, fired the first gun, and then followed 
a tremendous cannonade. From one hundred and eighty 
to two hundred pieces of heavy artillery were fired at the 
same moment, while mortars from each side threw out an 
immense number of shells. It was a glorious sight, says 
Moultrie, to see the shells, like meteors, crossing each 
other and bursting in the air; it appeared as if the stars 
were falling to the earth. The fire was incessant almost 
the whole night; the cannon-balls whizzing and shells 
hissing continually amongst tlie combatants, ammuniti(m 
chests and temporary magazines blowing up, great guns 
bursting, and Avounded men groaning among the lines. 
It was a dreadful night; it was our last great effort, but 
it availed us nothing! ^ 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. IT, 80-00 ; Ramsay's Revohition, vol. II, 
400-403 ; SiP(ie of Charlestown (Munsell), 07-111. 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 90, 



IN THE KEVOIA TION 501 

Lincoln and the garrison were standing out, not only on 
a matter of substance and of great import, but also upon a 
MK-re point of honor. The hitter, the marching out with 
the drums beating a British march and with colors 
unfurled, however gratifying to the wounded pride of the 
garrison, which had already agreed to surrender, was a 
mure matter of sentiment and ceremony, which should 
not be allowed to cost further bloodshed; but the former 
involved a question as to the condition of the militia and 
citizens, which was worth suffering for, and which the 
garrison was showing itself not unwilling to fight still 
longer and to die for if need be. And yet Gadsden, at 
whose instance the fight was being made, was not satis- 
lieil. He had not been consulted. Amidst the roar of 
the bombardment, at "fifty minutes after nine. May 9, 
1780," he writes a letter to General Lincoln, indignant 
that he, the supreme magistrate of the State in town, at 
the head of the militia officers who had been brought into 
the Council, in their civil capacities, should not have 
been consulted at all on so momentous a matter, and much 
more strange still when the consultation was so general. 
He went on to say that as he was aware that Lincoln was 
determined to send proposals, he had no time to lose; he 
had therefore called a council as expeditiously as possible, 
and made up the article sent in the best manner he could. 
"What reason," he continued, "may have induced you to 
make proposals, and what they were, I know not; but my 
duty to my country obliges me to tell you that I had a 
right to be consulted on the occasion, and as I was not, I 
do solemnly protest against such treatment, and send you 
this to let you know I do so." Gadsden wrote the letter 
amidst all the horrors of that night; but his Council would 
not allow him to send it. Ferguson, amongst whose 
papers a copy was found, adds that the Council were 



502 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

unanimous in opinion that such a letter was extremely 
proper; but persuaded Gadsden to delay it till the 
result of the capitulation should be known, lest it might 
kindle some resentment in Lincoln, and he might be less 
attentive to their interests.^ Unfortunate Lincoln! He 
had given up all his own demands for his Continentals, 
was begging now only for his officers' horses and a point 
of etiquette in marching out, but was standing out man- 
fully for Gadsden's demands for the militia and citizens. 
And yet Gadsden and his Council, instead of thanking 
him, were holding indignation meetings upon his conduct 
because he would not subject himself to the open affronts 
and defiances he had received when lie had consulted them 
before. 

The bombardment had continued all night, several houses 
were burnt, and many more were with difficulty saved. 
By this time the British had completed their third parallel. 
Besides the cannon and mortars which played on the 
garrison at a distance of less than a hundred yards, rifles 
were fired by the Hessian jagers with such effect that very 
few escaped who showed themselves above the lines. For- 
tunately for Lincoln, the next day the citizens themselves 
came to his lelief. On Wednesday, the 10th, "the Peti- 
tion of divers inhabitants of Charlestown, in belialf of 
themselves and others their Fellow Citizens," Avas handed 
to him. The petition represented that they were informed 
that the difficulties that arose in the negotiations of yes- 
terday and the day preceding related wholly to the citi- 
zens, to whom the Britisli connnanders offered their 
estates and to admit them to their jiarole as })risoners of 
war. And understanding that it was an indisputable 
proposition that they could derive no advantage from a 
perseverance in resistance, witli everything that is dear 
1 Johnson's Traditions. 2(31. 



IN T[IE REVOLUTION 503 

ti) tliL'in at stake, they llioiiglit it their indispensable duty 
ill the peiihjiis situation of affairs to request Lincoln to 
send out a tlag in the name of the people, intimating their 
aeqniescence in the terms proposed. This petition was 
l)resented from a great majority of the inhabitants and of 
the country militia.^ 

On Thursday, the 11th, the British crossed the wet 
dilih aiul were within twentj'-five yards of the lines of the 
besieged. They were pre[)ared to strike the last blow, 
antl the order for the assault and storm of the town 
remained only to be given, when a flag appeared. Lin- 
coln had agreed to surrender. 

His counnnnication stated that the same motive of 
humanity which had induced Clinton and Arbuthnot to 
propose articles of ca[)itulation to the garrison, had 
induced him to ofl'er those he had sent on the 8th. Those 
lie had then thought such as he might propose and Clin- 
ton and Arbuthnot might receive with honor to both 
parties. Their exception to them, as they principally 
concerned the militia and citizens, he then conceived were 
such as could not be concurred with; but that a recent 
application from these [teople expressing a willingness 
that he should comply, and a wish on his part to lessen the 
distresses of war to individuals, led him now to offer his 
acccfitaiu'c of tliem.^ 

Clinton replied that when Lincoln had rejected the 
favorable terms, which were dictated by an earnest desire 
to prevent effusion of l)lood, and had interposed articles 
which were wholly inadmissible, both the Admiral and 
himself were of opinion that the surrender of the town 

1 Lincoln's Papers, MS. ; Year Book of the Cit'j of Charleston, 1897 
(Smyth), ;5n4-108. 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, 07 ; Ramsay's Revolution, III, 400 ; Siege of 
Charlestoicn (Munsell), HI. 



504 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

at discretion was the only condition which should after- 
ward be attended to; but that as the motives which had 
before influenced them were still prevalent, he now 
informed Lincoln that tlie terms then offered would still 
be granted. A copy of the articles would be sent to Lin- 
coln as soon as prepared, and immediately after they were 
exchanged a detachment of grenadiers would be sent to 
take possession of the hornwork opposite the main gate of 
the town. Every arrangement which might induce to 
good order in occupying the town would be settled before 
ten o'clock to-morrow, and at that time the garrison 
should march out.^ 

About eleven o'clock a.m., on the 12th of Ma}', writes 
Moultrie, we marched out, between fifteen and sixteen 
hundred Continental troops, leaving five or six hundred 
sick and wounded in the hospitals, and piled our arms on 
the left of the hornwork. The officers marched the men 
back to the barracks, where a British guard was placed 
over them. The British then asked wdiere our second 
division was. They were told these were all we had 
except the sick and wounded. They were astonished, 
and said we had made a gallant defence. The militia 
were marched out the same day and delivered up their 
arms at the same place. The Continental officers went 
into town to their quarters, where they remained a few 
days to collect their baggage and sign their p;u-oles, and 
then were sent over to Haddrell's Point. The British do 
not seem to have been satisfied Avith the delivery of the 
arms by the militia, for they were ordered the next day to 
parade and to bring all their arms Avith them, — guns, 
swords, pistols, etc., — and those that did not comply were 

1 Moultrie's Meinoim, vol. II, 07 ; Kainsay's licvohitinn in So. 
Ca., vol. II, 40 ; Year Book of the City of Charleston, 1897 (Smyth), 
389, 393. 



IN THE HEVOLUTIOX 505 

threatened with having the grenadiers turned in among 
them. This tlireat, says Moultrie, brought out the aged, 
the timid, the disaffeeted, and the inlirm, many of whom 
had never appeared during the whole siege, but which 
swelled the number of militia prisoners to at least three 
times the number of men who had ever been on duty. 
Moultrie was very much surprised when he saw the 
column march out, for many of them, he says, had been 
excused from age and infirmities; but they would do, he 
observes, to enroll on a conqueror's list. 

A terrible disaster occurred to the British in storing the 
arms they had taken. Thougli warned that many of them 
were loaded, they were carelessly put into wagons and 
taken to a storehouse, or magazine, in tlie town,^ and 
though several were discharged before the explosion took 
place, they were still more carelessly thrown from the 
wagons into the storeroom, which contained about four 
thousand pounds of fixed ammunition. In this way fire 
was at last set to the powder, and the magazine exploded, 
blowing up tlie whole guard of fifty men and many others 
standing by; their carcasses, legs, and arms were scattered 
over several parts of the town. One man was dashed with 
such violence against the steeple of the then new Inde- 
pendent Church 2 that the marks of his body were left upon 
it for several days. The houses in town received a great 
shock, and the window shutters rattled as if they would 
tumble out of the frames. And though most of the mili- 
tia, who were still together after delivering up their arms, 
went in a body to assist in extinguishing the fire, which 
had communicated to the neighboring house, the British, 

1 This magazine was on what is now Magazine Street, between Arch- 
dale and Mazyok streets. 

2 This buiiiling stood at the corner of Archdale and West streets, 
where the graveyard still remains. 



506 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

not aware of the facts, were naturally greatly alarmed, 
and believed that the explosion was some device of the 
rebels to destroy them. All their troops were turned out 
under arms, and General Moultrie himself with several 
other men put under guard for a time. As soon, how- 
ever, as General Leslie, the commandant of the troops 
in the town, learned of his arrest, he sent one of his 
aides with an apology, saying that his arrest was con- 
trary to orders. 

The loss of life and the injuries received dui'ing the 
siege Avere much less than might have been expected, in 
view of the fact that every part of the town was under fire, 
and that there was no spot in it safe from shells and can- 
non-balls. The circle of fire was nearl}' complete. On 
the east the town was under the guns of the fleet, on the 
south under the batteries on James Island, on the west 
under those at Wappoo and the galleys there, and on the 
north under the guns of the advancing forces. It was 
only the northeast from which came no shot or shell. 
And yet in all the forty-two days of the siege only tAventy 
of the inhabitants were killed. There was but very little 
loss, too, in the militia and among the sailors, who were 
not stationed upon the lines. The Continentals- and the 
Charlestown battalion of artillery bore the brunt of the 
fire, posted as they were on the lines in front of 
the besiegers. Eighty-nine of these were killed and 
138 wounded. Among the killed were Colonel Parker, 
an officer who had often distinguished himself by his 
gallantry and good conduct, and Ca})tain Peyton, — both 
of the Virginia line, — Major Gilbank, Philip Nyle, 
aide-de-camp to General Moultrie, Captains Thomas 
Moultrie, Mitchell, and Templeton. The battalion of 
artillery, though stationed at the hornwork, lost only 
three men killed, and the adjutant and seven privates 



IN' THE REVOLUTION 507 

WGiinded. About thirty houses in the town were burnt, 
and many otliers yreatly damaged.^ 

The hiss of the British during the siege amounted to 
78 killed and 189 wounded. The loss of tlie garrison was 
thus not so great as that of the besiegers; but the number 
of slain was greater.- 

Sir Henry Clinton first reported that the prisoners taken 
by him upon the capitulation made about GOOO men in 
arms.^ The return of prisoners as made by Major Andr^, 
Deputy Adjutant General, amounted to 5684. But the 
return comprehended in the militia every adult freeman of 
the town, including the infirm, invalids, and disaffected, 
as described by Moultrie in the procession brought out by 
the British bayonets, including also 200 who issued an ad- 
dress of congratulation to Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral 
Arbuthnot u[)on their success. Moultrie states that be- 
tween I'jOO and 1()00 Continentals Avere marched out to 
surrender, leaving 500 or GOO sick and wounded in the hos- 
pitals. But in this estimate he is clearly mistaken. There 
were in the garrison certiiinly 800 South Carolina Conti- 
nentals, 400 Virginians under Colonel Heth, 700 North 
Carolinians under Genei-al Hogan, and 750 Virginians 
under General Woodford = 2050.^ The number of officers 

1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 02. 

2 Steadinairs Am. War, vol. II, 186. 
" Tark'lon's Campctiijiis, 43. 

* It is impo.'ssible from the American accounts to arrive at an exact 
e.stimate of the forces in CiiarUstown duriiij^ the siege. When it began 
Lincoln had in the city the South Carolina Continentals, reduced and 
consolidated into three regiments, which were said not to exceed (Ham- 
say's Eeruhition, vol. II, 46) 800 

He had also a detachment of Virginia Continentals, under 
Colonel Heth, estimated at (Memoirs of the War of 1776 

[Lee], 145) 400 

The Charle.stown militia, battalion of artillery, and Simons's 

brigade 1000 



508 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

surrendered was very great, out of all proportion to the 
rank and file. One major general, 6 brigadiers, 9 colonels, 

2200 
The North Carolina militia, General Lillington's Brigade 

(Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 52) 1000 

3200 
He was reeuforced on the 11th of March by Hogan, North 
Carolina Continental Brigade {So. Ca. in the Revolution 

[Simms], 83, 84) 700 

On the 18th Colonel Benj. Garden brought in South Carolina 
militia {So. Ca. in the Revolution [Simms], 88) .... 100 

Making his force 4000 

And this was the estimate made by John Wells, Jr., on the 
24th {So. Ca. in the Revolution [Simms], 93). But on the 
26th all Lillington's North Carolina left, except 178 . . . 822 

Which reduced Lincoln's force, but still left on the 30th of 

March in garrison 3178 

Yet in his letter to Washington, Lincoln writes that on the 
30th of March "the whole number" in garrison, besides 
sailors, amounted to but ( Year Book of the City of Charles- 
ton, 1897, 375) 2225 

It is possible that Lincoln intended by this to say that the 
whole number of effective men in the garrison amounted 
only to this number. Assuming then, as we must do, that 
Lincoln's actual force on the 30th of March was .... 3178 

We must add the reenforcements of Woodford's Virginia 
Brigade of Continentals, which arrived on the 4th of 
April, and he estimated at 750 

And small parties of South and North Carolina militia, 

amounting possibly to 250 1000 

Making his force 4178 

To these nmst be added sailors from the sunken vessels . . 1200 

Total 5378 

Again assuming that Lincoln's force when the siege began 

was, as above 3200 

In his letter to Washington he says that the only reenforce- 
ments received by him were : — 



IN THE REVOLUTION 



509 



14 lieutenant colonels, 15 majors, 84 captains, 84 lieu- 
tenants, and 32 second lieutenants and ensigns. The 



Of Soutli Carolina militia . . . 300 

Of North Carolina militia ... 300 600 

General Hoj^an's brigade . . . 600 

The Virginia line for the army . 750 1350 

(Year Book of the City of Charleston, 1897, 355, 356.) 

Whirli would make his force 

The Hritish return of the rebel force captured makes the 
number somewhat larger. Thej' claim to have captured 

An analysis of their return shows the following : — 

General and Staff 



3200 



1950 



5150 



5683 



1970 



Major General . . . 

Brigadier General . . 

Engineers 

General Hospital Staff 

Quarter Master Gen- 
eral Department . . 

Commissary General 
Department . . . 



25 



16 



6 



Xorth Carolina Troops 



54 



South Carolina Troops 



General officer . . . 

First South Carolina 
Continentals . . . 

Second South Carolina 
Continentals . . . 

Third South Carolina 
Continentals . . 

Fourth South Carolina 
Continentals (artil- 
lery) 

First Rattalion, Charles- 
town militia . 

Second Battalion, 
Charlestown militia. 

Charlestown Battalion 
of Artillery . . . 

Pulaski's Light Dra- 
goons 

Citizens in ranks . . 



1 



231 



246 



259 



93 



485 

168 

41 
40 



1916 



General officer . . . 


1 


First North Carolina 




Continentals . . . 


287 


Second North Carolina 




Continentals . . . 


301 


Third North Carolina 




Continentals . . . 


162 


Artillery, North Caro- 




lina Continentals 


64 815 


North and South Caro- 




lina militia . . . 


1231 




4016 


Virginia Troops 


General officers . . . 


2 


First Virginia Conti- 




nentals 


336 


Second Virginia Conti- 




nentals 


306 


Third Virginia Conti- 




nentals 


252 


First Virginia Detach- 




ment 


258 


Second Virginia De- 




tachment .... 


232 




1386 



510 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

commanders of the militia from the countr}*, men of the 
first rank, influenced by a sense of honor, repaired to 
the defence of the town, though they could not bring 
with them a number of men equal to their respective 

1386 4016 5449 

Fourth Virginia Conti- Miscellaneous 



nental officers ... 6 
Fifth Virginia Conti- 
nental officers ... 6 
Sixth Virginia Conti- 
nental officers ... 10 



Cannoneers (these were, 

it is believed, South 

Carolina militia, but 

they are not other- 

. . . ^ wise desi£;natecl) . . 167 

Seventh Virginia Con- ^ , ' ^„ 

° French company ... 43 



Georgia officers ... 6 216 



tinental officers 

Eighth Virginia Conti- 
nental officers ... 4 Troops surrendered . . 5065 

Tenth Virginia Conti- Civil officers .... 18 

nental officers . . . 9 Total 5683 

Eleventh Virginia Con- 

tinental officers . . 6 1433 
5449 

Mr. Sabine makes the extraordinary statement upon evidence which 
he says he has examined that "South Carolina with a Norlhern army 
to assist her could not, or would not, even preserve her own capital " 
(The Am. Loyalists, 30, 32). Besides General Lincoln, his aides. Major 
Clarkson (Massachusetts) and Colonel Anthony Walton White, who was 
so unsuccessful in his career in the South, there was not another Northern 
soldier at the siege of Charlestown so far as we are aware. There were no 
troops from any other States but Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
and Georgia. The troops spoken of as coining '"from the northward" 
were those from North Carolina and Virginia, those States being north 
of South Carolina. There were several excellent bodies of Northern 
troops who fought in South Carolina during the Revolution, as will 
hereafter appear, but they all foucjht on the British side. They were 
Tory provincials. 'I'hey were as follows: Tarleton's, or the British 
Legion, raised in New York ; the King's Third American Regiment, or 
New York Volunteers (Turnbull's) ; the King's Fourth American Regi- 
ment, New York ; Ferguson's American Voluuteers, New York ; Lord 
Rawdon's Volunteers of Ireland, raised in Pennsylvania; the First Bat- 
talion, New York Loyalists, Lieutenant Colonel Cruger ; the Second 
Battalion of same. Lieutenant Colonel Allen. 



IX THE r.EVOHTTION 511 

commands. The Continental regiments were completely 
officered, though the number of privates was very small. 
This was particularly the case with the Virginia regi- 
ments, ill several of which there were no enlisted men, 
only commissioned officers. The supernumerary regular 
officers without command were retained in the garrison 
fidin an apprehension that if they were ordered out it 
would dispirit tlie army, and from an expectation, confi- 
dently indulged in the early days of the siege, that their 
services would be wanted to command tlie expected large 
reeiiforeements of militia.^ In addition to the loss of the 
army, the Americans also lost, in prisoners, about 1000 
sailors, including the French, 157 guns in the batteries, 
and about 50,000 pounds of powder.^ 

Moultrie tells of a conversation with a British officer, 
who was receiving from him the returns of the artillery 
stores, in which the officer said, "Sir, j-ou have made a 
gallant defence, but you had a great many rascals among 
you'' (and mentioned their names) "who came out every 
night and gave us information of what was passing in 
your garrison."^ This incident is more remarkable for 
the want of vigilance and discipline in the garrison which 
it illustrates, than for the fact that there were those in the 
town who would give such iiiformation. For it must be 
remembered that the besieged town contained many people 
who were opposed to the whole war; many who regarded 
their fellow-citi/.ens who had brought it on as rebels, just 
as the British did; man}' who had never, in heart at least, 
renounced allegiance to his iNIajesty, had never recognized 
the stare and stripes as their flag, but still looked ui^on the 
British standard as their own; and many others who, 
having gone into the Revolution to resist oppression and 

1 Ramsay's lievolution, vol. IT. (!1. 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, lOG-107. » Ibid., 108. 



512 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

maintain the right of representation, liad considered the 
end gained when Lord North proposed his conciliatory 
measures. To both of these classes the Declaration of 
Independence and the war for its maintenance was the 
treason — not the opposition to Congress. And yet dur- 
ing the whole siege onh^ twenty soldiers — regulars and 
militia — deserted to the British;^ while, still more 
remarkable, several deserters came into the besieged town, 
with its inevitable fall before them, and brought their 
information of what was going on in the British camp.^ 

Ramsay, the historian, says that much censure was un- 
deservedly cast on General Lincoln for risking his army 
within the lines, and undertakes a defence of his conduct 
in doing so. This is the least Bamsay should do, for he 
was one of those who were largely responsible for Lin- 
coln's course; he was one of Gadsden's Council who dic- 
tated to Lincoln throughout the siege what should be 
done, and who threatened mutiny if he attempted to 
abandon the town. But it is clear that all of Lincoln's 
officers, excepting Colonel C. C. Pinckney, and, in some 
degree, General Moultrie, were opposed to standing a 
siege. The engineer officers advised against its practica- 
bility, and General Mcintosh, one of the bravest and ablest 
of the general officers in the garrison, was from the time 
of his entering it open in liis advice to evacuate the town. 
Washington, as we have seen, was of opinion that Avhen 
Lincoln decided to abandon the bar he should likewise 
have abandoned the town. It was the opposition of Gads- 
den and his Council, including Dr. Kamsay, Avhich alone 
prevented Lincoln's attempt to save his army. Lincoln, 
in his letter to Washington, states that the first reason 

1 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 01. 

2 So. Ca. in the Revolution (Simms), 80, 107, 108, 111 ; Moultrie, vol. 
II, GO. 



TN THE IlKVOLrTTOX 513 

.assigned by the council of his officers on the 21st of April 
against tlie attenii)t to evacuate was that tlie civil authori- 
ties wouhl not allow it. Herein Avas Lincoln's greatest 
weakness: that from tlie first he subordinated his mili- 
tary policy to the opinions and wishes of civilians; and in 
doing so he lost not onl}- their confidence, but their respect, 
and incurred insult and defiance. 

Nor did Gadsden possess any authority to which he 
should have listened. He M\as not left in the garrison to 
exercise authority. The constitution of the State allowed 
the Lieutenant Governor to succeed to the office of Gov- 
ernor only in the absence of the Governor from the State. ^ 
Governor Rutledge was not absent from the State, and 
there could not be two Governors at the same time. He 
\\as not therefore the supreme magistrate of the State in 
the town as he claimed, nor was he at the head of the 
militia officers in their civil capacities or in any other. 
He was left in the town to encourage the people, "more 
to satisfy the citizens than because of the propriety of the 
measure ; " ^ not to interfere with the military authorities. 
Tlie General Assembly upon the eve of adjournment had 
dtdegated power to Governor John Rutledge, and such of 
his Council as he could conveniently consult, to do every- 
thing that was necessary ; but that was a personal trust, 
they had not given the power to the Lieutenant Governor 
in his absence. While Rutledge was alive and in the 
State Gadsden was without any authority whatsoever. 
The mere fact that he was separated from the Governor by 
the siege could not invest him with power to act in his 
l)lace. The fact of the siege placed the government abso- 
lutely in the liands of the military. South Carolina had 
joined the confederacy and had submitted her army to the 

1 Article VIII. Statutes of So. Ca., vol. I, i:38. 

'John Lewis Gervais, So. Ca. in the Revolution (Sinims), 121. 

VOL. III. — 2 L 



514 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

command of Continental officers appointed by Congress. 
The necessities and rules of war make the military com- 
mandant absolute in a state of siege; and with the con- 
duct of General Lincoln and his council Gadsden and his 
associates should never have been allowed to interfere. 

Lincoln should not in the first instance have drawn his 
army within the town; and when his officers advised him 
to evacuate it, he should have arrested Gadsden and his 
Council for their threatened opposition, and made the 
effort to save the troops under his command. 

Great was the rejoicing in England over the fall of 
Charlestown. The King was out riding on horseback 
when the joyful tidings were brought to him by the Earl 
of Lincoln, Sir Henry Clinton's aide, whom he had 
dispatched with the news. The whole troops of the line, 
consisting of four thousand men, were drawn up in Hyde 
Park and fired a feu de joie^ accompanied by a tri[)le dis- 
charge of artiller3% The Foot Guards observed the same 
ceremony in St. James's Park, and twenty-one field-pieces 
were fired opposite the Horse Guards; and all the troops 
were reviewed. Dublin was illuminated and the friends 
of America in that city and in Paris were greatly 
depressed.^ 

1 Rivington's Royal Gazette, Oct. 4, 1780 ; Siege of Charlestown 
(Munsell), 206, 209. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

1780 

Upon the capture of Charlestown Sir Henry Clinton at 
once advanced Lord Connvallis ' into tlie interior with a 
part of the army, which was to remain under his command 

1 Lord Cornwalli.s, whose proiiiineut career in the South now began, was 
of a ver}- ancient and honorable family, and seems to have been intended 
from liis earliest youth for the army. We find him in 1758, when only 
twenty years of age, captain of a light comiKiny, under the title of J^ord 
Brt)ome. Three years after he accompanied the Marquis of Granby to 
the Continent as aide-de-camp, and under the most skilful generals of the 
time acquired the rudiments of the art of war. In 1761 he obtained 
the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Twelfth Regiment, and was a 
member of Parliament. On the death of his father in 1702 he vacated 
his seat in the House of Commons and appeared in the House of Peers, 
under the title of Earl of Cornwallis. In 1765 he became one of the 
Lords of the Bedchamber, an aide-de-camp to his Majesty with the rank 
of colonel. His political conduct was nevertheless marked by its inde- 
pendence ; he supported the rights of the colonists in the struggle over 
the Stamp .\ct, and opposed the government in the Wilkes controversy. 
Lord ^Lansl^eld is .said to have rallied the venerable Earl Camden on one 
occasion by an allusion to Lord Cornwallis's youth : " Poor Camden, 
could you get only four boys to support you?" In 1760 he obtained 
tiie colonelcy of the Thirty-third Regiment of Foot. Notwithstanduig 
his political views, he came to America with Sir William Howe, with the 
rank of Major General, and as we have seen took part under Sir Henry 
Clinton ill the expedition against Charlestown, in June, 1770, and had 
since served in the campaigns in tlie Jerseys and Pennsylvania, com- 
manding a considerable part of the army at Hrandywine. He was about 
now to enter upon a distingui.shed career, which was to end at Yorktown. 
After the Hevolution lie became Governor General of India, and subse- 
(piently viceroy of Ireland, where he was engaged in a second business of 
l)utting down a rebellion, in which he was more successful than he had 
been in the first. — British Military Library., vol. I, 41-46. 

515 



616 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

for the security and extension of the conquest of the State 
and for further ultimate operations. Sir Ileniy had 
received information that a Frencli armament with trans- 
ports and troops might be expected on the coast of 
America to cooperate with General Washington, and he 
was anxious to return at once to New York lest if he 
delayed he might be intercepted on his wa}'. He busied 
himself therefore in establishing civil regulations for 
further securing the British interests in South Carolina, 
while he directed Lord Cornwallis to capture Governor 
Rutledge and his Council if possible, to clear the State 
of the few remaining hostile troops, to overawe the inhab- 
itants, and to establish military posts on the frontier. 

On the 18th of May Lord Cornwallis left his ground in 
Christ Church Parish, and with upward of twenty-five 
hundred men marched to Lenuds's Ferr}^, where he crossed 
the Santee on his way to Camden. Two other divisions, 
after leaving Charlestown and reaching Dorchester, sepa- 
rated; the first, under Lieutenant Colonel Brown, moved 
up the Savannah to Augusta, while the second, under 
Lieutenant Colonel Balfour, passed along the Congaree 
to Ninety-Six. Neither of these parties encountered the 
slightest resistance. Augusta, Ninety-Six, and Camden 
were soon possessed, fortified, and garrisoned. 

Cornwallis was somewhat dela3'ed in crossing the San- 
tee, the Carolinians having concealed or destroyed all the 
boats within their reach to retard his progress. But here 
afjain information was derived from the nocfroes, who dis- 
covered where some were secreted, and his light troops 
were not long in crossing. As soon as the British legion 
and a detachment of dragoons had passed, Colonel Tarle- 
ton received instructions to march to Georgetown to dis- 
.perse the opponents of the British government thei-e, and 
to receive the allegiance of the well affected. This, during 



IX THE REVOLUTION 517 

the passage of the other troops across the river, Tarleton 
])L'rf()rmed witliout opposition. On the 22d Cornwallis 
moved his army upon tlie same road b}' which Colonel 
I'.uford had retreated a few days before; that is, along the 
eastern bank of the Santee to Nelson's Ferry. From this 
point t'ornwallis detached Tarleton, with a corps consist- 
ing of 40 of the Seventeenth Dragoons, 130 of the legion, 
and 100 mounted infantry, to pursue Buford's party, who 
were now so far advanced as to be beyond the reach of 
his main body. The detachment left the army on the 27tli 
and followed the Americans with great rapidity, losing, 
however, in doing so, a number of horses, disabled by the 
exertion and the heat. On the march Tarleton came very 
near capturing Governor Kutledge, together with Daniel 
linger and John L. Gervais, the two of his Council who 
accompanied him. These gentlemen, entirely off their 
guard, were being hospitably entertained at Clermont^ by 
Colonel Rugeley, an Englishman professedly opposed to 
the American cause, but who, true to his guests, at raid- 
night awoke them, advising them of Tarleton's approach, 
and with some difficulty persuaded them to escape. At 
daylight Tarleton arrived at Clermont, but his prey had 
tlown.2 

General Caswell, with about 700 North Carolina militia, 
had joined Huford, who had with him a regiment of 350 
Continentals and a small party of Washington's horse, and 
who was then on his march from the Santee to Camden. 
At Camden the two c()i[)s unfortunately separated. Cas- 
well tuined otf to the Pedee, while Ruford [)ursued the 
load leading to Salisbury, North Carolina. Tarleton, 
neglecting Caswell and his militia, pursued Buford and 
liis Virginians. By pressing horses found on the road in 
the place of those he lost from the heat, he arrived the 
1 Now Stiiteburg. ^ James's Li/c of Marion, 38. 



518 HISTOHY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

next clay at Camden, where lie learned that Buford had 
quitted Rugeley's Mill — some fifteen miles above Camden 
— and that he was marching with great speed to join 
reenforcements then upon the road from Salisbury to 
Charlotte, North Carolina. Tarleton rested here but a 
few hours, and, with the "vigor and celerity for which he 
was so remarkable, was soon on the road again. Starting 
at two o'clock on tlie morning of the 29th, he reached 
Rugeley's by daylight, where he learned that the Conti- 
nentals were about twenty miles in front in the Catawba 
settlement. From Rugeley's Mill he sent in advance an 
officer with a summons to Colonel Buford to surrender. 
This, he admits in his memoirs, was a stratagem to delay 
Buford's march, ^ and that in the summons he magnified 
the number of his men to intimidate Buford, or at least 
delay him whilst he deliberated on an answer. Tarleton 
had with him, as we have seen, 270 men in all; and 
Cornwallis was far away, somewhere between Nelson's 
Feny and Clermont. In his summons he represented 
that resistance was in vain, as Buford was then almost 
encompassed by a corps of 700 light troops on horse- 
back, half of which were infantry with artillery, the 
rest cavalry, and that Lord Cornwallis was within a short 
march with nine British battalions. ^ His summons offered 
the terms granted the garrison in Cliarlestown. No excep- 
tion can be taken to any stratagem nor to any exaggeration 
or misrepresentation to the enemy of one's strength. By 
all the ethics of war Tarleton Avas justified in the use of 
both, and we do not now dwell upon the statements of this 
summons to criticise his conduct in resorting to such 
measures. But when he himself declares that the sum- 
mons was a mere stratagem to delay Buford, he should not 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 28. 

2 Ibid., note L to CliaiUor I, 77. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 519 

set up its refusal as a justification or palliation of the 
iulmnian butchery which followed. He did not expect 
I)iif(trd to surrender as demanded; but he anticipated that 
it w ouUl dehiy him until he could get up with the body of 
his e(tnunand. 

After a march of 154 miles in 54 hours Taileton came 
u[) with Buford in the Waxhaws in what is now Lancaster 
County, near the North Carolina line, and not far distant 
from the Waxluuv C'hurch, at about three o'clock in the 
afternoon.^ There is a material difference between the 
Enrjlish and American accounts of what then happened. 
Tarleton represents that his advance guard overtook and 
charged a sergeant and four of Buford's cavalry in rear of 
tlieir infantry and took them prisoners; and that this, 
happening under the eyes of the two commanders, they 
respectively pre[)ared their troops for action; that he, 
having made his arrangement with greater promptness, 
commenced the battle by a charge of his cavahy, which 
was fully expected by Buford, whom he heard command 
his men to retain their fire until the British cavalry were 
nearer. 2 On tlie other hand, Cliief Justice Marshall, who 
was well acquainted with Buford and is supposed to have 
received his account from Buford himself, in his Life of 
Washinffton states that Tarleton continued to make his 
dispositions for the assault while flags were passing, and 
that the instant the truce was over his cavalry made a 
furious charge on the Americans, who liad received no 
order to engage, and who were uncertain whether to defend 
themselves or not. That in this state of dismay- some 
threw down their arms and begged for quarter, wliile 
(ithers fired on their assailants. ^ In an api)endix to 
James's Life of Marion there is an account given by Dr. 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 32. - Ibid.. 29-30. 

' Marshall's Life of Wanhinyton, vol. IV, 159-lUO. 



520 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Robert Brownfield, an eye-witness, wliicli, as tliat author 
says, throws more light upon the affair than anything 
previous!}' written.^ 

By this account it aj)pears that when Buford received 
the summons he hiid it before a council of his officers with 
three distinct alternatives from himself: Shall we com- 
ply with Tarleton's summons? Shall we abandon the 
baggage and, by a rapid movement, save ourselves? Or 
shall we fortify ourselves by the wagons and wait his 
approach? The first and second were decidedly rejected 
b}^ the unanimous voice of the council, declaring it to be 
incom|)atible with their honor as soldiers or the dut}' the}' 
owed their countiy either to suiTender or abandon their 
baggage on the bare statement of Tarleton as to his num- 
bers. The third was also negatived on the ground that, 
although they might by this means defend themselves 
against Tarleton and his party, he might, in turn, obtain 
reenforcements from Cornwallis, against which no effectual 
resistance could be made. It was determined therefore to 
continue the march, maintaining the best possible order 
for the reception of the enemy, hoping to reach Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Potterfield, who had marched from Vir- 
ginia in the latter end of April with a corps of horse, 
foot, and artillery amounting to four hundred men, and 
who was then a[)proaching the South Carolina line. 

In a short time Tarleton's bugle was heard, and a furi- 
ous attack Avas made on the rear-guard, commanded by 
Lieutenant Pearson. Not a man esca})ed. Pearson was 
inhumanly mangled as he lay on his back. His nose and 
lip were bisected obliquely and the lower jaw com})lelely 
divided. This it will be observed was a repetition of the das- 
tardly conduct of this same corps at Monck's Corner, when 
they likewise mutilated Major Vernier after his surrender. 
1 James's IJfr nf Marion. 30, 183. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 521 

iiiilDiil ;![ ;iears to liave been convinced, by this attack, 
r [\\v. tinth of Tarleton's declaration as to his numbers. 
He, however, prepared for action, but upon ground offer- 
ing no impediment to the enem3''s cavalry. Tarleton made 
his arrangement for the attack with all })0ssible expedi- 
tion. His right wing, composed of sixty dragoons and 
nearly as many mounted infantry, — tlie latter, however, 
now dismounted, — was under the command of Major 
Cochrane of the legion. Captains Corbet and Kinloch, 
wilh the Seventeenth Dragoons and part of the legion, 
were to charge the centre of the Americans whilst Tarle- 
ton, Avith thirty chosen horse and some infantry, assaulted 
their right flank and reserve.^ These dispositions having 
been made without an}' fire from Buford, the cavalry 
advanced to the charge. Tarleton states that when 
within forty paces of the Continental line their infantry 
presented their pieces, but that he heard their officers 
command them to retain their fire till the British cavalry 
were neaier ; which they did until his dragoons were within 
ten paces. This forbearance, as he terms it, Tarleton 
obser\es, was a mistake, as it prevented his dragoons fall- 
ing into confusion on the charge, and likewise deprived 
the Americans of the use of their ammunition. Some of 
his ofTict'rs, men, and horses, however, suffered by their 
fire ; but lUiford's troops were totally broken, and slaughter 
was commenced before he could remount another horse, 
his own having been overturned by the volley. Thus, he 
adds, in a few minutes terminated an affair Avhich might 
have had a very different result. 

On the other hand, from the American account, it 

aj)poars that the British attack was received with firmness 

and completely checked until the cavalry were gaining 

the real', when Bufoid, consideiing further resistance 

' 'rarlt'toii'.s Campaigns, 29. 



522 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

liopeless, ordered a flag to he hoisted and the arms to be 
grounded, expecting the usual treatment sanctioned by 
civilized war. This, however, observes Brownfield, from 
whom we quote, formed no part of Tarleton's creed. His 
excuse for the relentless barbarity that ensued was that 
his horse, having been killed under him just as the flag 
Avas raised, his men su[)posed that he had been slain, and 
that in the moment of excitement and revenge they com- 
mitted the slaughter. 1 He affected to believe that the fire 
in which his horse was killed w^as opened after the flag 
was raised, and imputed it to treachery on the part of 
Buford; but in reality, says Brownfield, he availed him- 
self of a safe opportunity to gratify that thirst for blood 
which marked his character in every conjuncture that 
promised probable impunity to himself. Ensign Cruit, who 
advanced with the flag, was instantly cut down. Consider- 
ing this as an earnest of what they were to expect, a resump- 
tion of their arms was attempted by the Americans, that 
they might sell their lives as dearly as possible ; but before 
this was fully effected Tarleton was in the midst of them, 
when commenced a scene of indiscriminate carnage never 
surpassed by the ruthless atrocities of the most barbarous 
savages. The demand for quarter seldom refused to a 
vanquished foe was at once found to be in vain, — not a 
man was spared ; it was the concurrent testimony of all 
survivors, that for fifteen minutes after every man was pros- 
trate the British w^ent over the ground plunging their 
bayonets into all that exhibited any signs of life, and in 
some instances, where several liad fallen one over the 
other, tliese monsters were seen to throw off on the ])()int 
of tlie bayonet the U[)permost, to come at those beneath. 
An instance of the atrocity of the massacre is given in tlie 
case of Captain John Stokes, a native of Pittsylvania 
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 30. 



IN tup: kevolu'jciox 523 

County, Virginia. Early in the sanguinary conflict he 
was attacked by a dragoon, who aimed deadly blows at 
his head, all of which, by the dexterous use of the small 
sword, he easily parried; when another on the right by 
one stroke cut off his right hand. He was then assailed 
by them biUh, and inslinctivel}^ attempting to defend his 
head with his left arm, that was hacked in eight or ten 
places from the wrist to the shoulder and a finger cut off. 
His head was laid o[)en almost the whole length of the 
crown to the eyebrows, and after he fell he received several 
cuts on the face and shoulders. A soldier, passing on in 
the work of death, asked if he expected quarter. Stokes 
answered, "1 have not, nor do I mean to ask it; finish me 
as soon as possible; " whereupon the soldier transfixed him 
twice with his bayonet. Another asked the same ques- 
tion and received the same answer; and he also thrust his 
bayonet twice through his body. Strange to sa}^ Captain 
Stokes lived through all these wounds, survived the war, 
and upon the adoption of the Constitution of the United 
States was rewarded by a seat on the Federal Bench. 

Tarleton reported 113 killed outright, 150 so badly 
wounded as to be paroled on the ground, and 53 prisoners 
capable of moving. The British whole loss was 5 killed 
and 14 wounded. The American wounded were taken to 
the Waxhaw Chui'ch, where they were tendeily cared for 
by the people in the neighborhood who had the courage 
to remain.^ Most of these wounded died. ^ This barbar- 
ous massacre gave a more sanguinary turn to the war. 

1 Hfiwf's Hial. PrrslDjIenan Church in So. Co., 536. Among those 
who ministered to these wounded and dying soldiers was Esther (iaston, 
then ab<nit eighteen years of age, wlio repaired to Waxhaw Cluirch with 
her married sister Martlia, and busied herself day and night ministering 
to their oiMnfort. After tiie battle of Hanging Kock she was found there 
again. Note to Howe's Hist. PrpHJnitcrian Church in So. Ca., 537. 

2 Memoirs i>f the War of 177G (Lee), 165. 



524 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

"Tarleton's quarter" became proverbial. Tlie tragedy 
sank deep into the hearts, not only of the American sol- 
diers, but of tlie people of this section who had hitherto 
had but little to do with the war. It was an event which 
contributed much to arousing them from an indifference 
to tlie contest to the most determined resistance to the 
British. Tarleton himself recognized the necessity of 
some explanation of the extraordinary slaughter, and, as 
is seen, attempted to excuse it because his men supposed 
him to have fallen. Lord Cornwallis found no fault with 
tlie barbarous conduct of his lieutenant; and Sir Henry 
Clinton reported it with exultation and even with 
exaggeration as to the number slain. ^ 

But the brutal conduct of Tarleton's dragoons at 
Monck's Corner and the massacre at the Waxhaws were 
not the only instances of their cruelty in this campaign; 
another, which made a deep and lasting impression on 
the people of this section, was the killing during this 
expedition of Samuel Wyley, the brother of the sheriff at 
Camden. This unfortunate man was mistaken for his 
brother, John Wyley, the sheriff, Avhom Tarleton had 
determined to put to death. To perform the deed he 
dispatched a favorite sergeant, wdiose name was Hutt, 
with a sergeant's guard. Going to Wyley's house, two 
men were left concealed behind the two large gateposts 
at the entrance of the yard, while Hutt with the rest of 
the party broke into the house. Hutt demanded Wyley's 
shoebuckles, and wdiile the defenceless man stooped down 
to uid)uckle them Hutt aimed a stroke at his head. 
Wyley, seeing the gleam of the sword, parried the blow 
from his head by his hand, Avith the loss of some of tlie 
fingers; then, springing out of the door, he ran for the 

1 Sir Henry Clinton reported to Lord George Germain that the number 
slain was 172. Tarleton's Campaifiiis, 80. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 525 

gate, where the two concealed men dispatched him.^ On 
this expedition, also, the British burned the house of 
Sumter, neai- Clermont, and in doing so roused the spirit 
of a lion. 

Tarleton, after Buford's defeat, fell back to join the 
main arm}'. Corn wall is had not moved more than forty 
miles from Nelson's Ferr}' when the first express arrived 
WMth the news of Tarleton's success. A few days after- 
ward Cornwallis reached Camden, and Tarleton joined 
him there. ^ Upon the approach of the British the inhabit- 
ants of Camden met them with a flag and asked for, and 
were granted, terms similar to those granted to the inhab- 
itants of Charlestown, that is, that they were to be con- 
sidered as prisoners on parole.^ 

The people of Ninety-Six, learning that the British were 
advancing to that part of the State also, sent out a flag to 
the commanding officer, from whom they learned that Sir 
Henry Clinton had delegated full powers to Captain 
Richard Pearis, and w^ere advised to treat with him. 
Articles of capitulation w^ere immediately i^roposed and 
soon ratified, by which they were promised the same 
security for their persons and property which British sub- 
jects enjoyed. They submitted under the supposition 
that they were to be either neutrals or prisoners on parole, 
as had been stipulated at Charlestown.* The inhabitants 
in the neighborhood of Beaufort likewise were assured the 
same terms. ^ 

It will be recollected that President Lowndes, just 
before the inauguration of the new government under the 

1 Tlio cause of offence was said to have been that John Wyley as 
sheriff had superintended the execution of some men under the statute 
at tlie time aj^ainst treason. James's Life of Marion, 40 and note. 

■- Tarleton's Campaigns, 82. 

8 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 111. * Ihid. ° Ibid. 



526 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

constitution of 1778, when ho was snperseded by John 
Kutleclge as Governor, had appointed three brigadier gen- 
erals of militia, viz. Richard Richardson, Andrew Will- 
iamson, and Stephen Bull; and it will be remembered 
that each of these had taken a conspicuous part in the 
early revolutionary movement. Richardson had con- 
ducted, with great ability and energ}^, the famous Snow 
Campaign in 1775, though he was then over seventy years 
of age; and the next year, immediately after the victory 
of P^ort Moultrie, Williamson had equally distinguished 
himself in his campaign against the Indians, in which lie 
so amply avenged the massacre of the Hamptons. Bull 
had been among the first to take tlie field and had gone 
with alacrity to the assistance of the Georgians in 177G. 
Much was therefore expected of these officers upon the 
invasion of the State; but no one of tliem added to his 
reputation in the campaigns which followed. Bull's 
militia district was soon in the possession of the British, 
and we do not find him mentioned after Prdvost's invasion 
in May, 1779. Colonel Laurens wrote, in Februaiy, 1780, 
that General Richardson and Colonel Kershaw were rais- 
ing the militia at Camden,^ and Dr. Johnson mentions that 
he was made a prisoner in the capitulation of Charles- 
town, ^ but he was probably not there. His name does not 
occur during the siege, nor is ho mentioned among the 
prisoners; and Gervais, w'ho was one of the Council with 
Governor Itutledge, in a letter dated 28th of A})ril (1780), 
speaks of collecting the militia "from Pee Dee and Rich- 
ardson's former brigade — for he resigned long ago. ** ^ He 
had no doubt resigned because of his intirmities; he was 
now more tlian seventy-five years of age, and was soon to 
die from the effects of a cruel imprisonment because he 

1 Tarlcton'.s Campaifina, .']4 ; Siege of Cltarlestown (MunsoU), 48. 
- TraditiouK, 1(51. 3 So. Ca. in the lievohition (Siimiis), 137. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 527 

would not accept the terms proposed to him- by the 
conqueror. 

There hangs a heavy cloud over Williamson's conduct at 
this time — a cloud which overshadows not only his pres- 
ent, but his past career. Indeed, by many historians he 
has been called the Benedict Arnold of South Carolina. 
This probably is unjust, but his character is involved in a 
mystery from Avhich it was never cleared. Whether 
entertained at the time or an afterthought suggested by 
his subsequent conduct, suspicions in regard to him are 
now dated back to Provost's invasion. Williamson, as 
we have seen, had then been ordered to invade the south- 
ern part of Georgia while Lincoln marched directly down 
upon Savannah, in the hope of thus forcing Provost to 
abandon his invasion of South Carolina. But when at 
length Lincoln was forced to realize that Prevost's move- 
ment was a real invasion and not a mere feint, he recalled 
Williamson. With somewhat of his old energy William- 
son had, in the meanwhile, proceeded upon his expedi- 
tion, had crossed the Ogeechee and cut a new road for his 
command, which has ever since been known as the Rebel 
Road. It is said, however, that Williamson did not with 
promptness obey Lincoln's recall, that he did not make 
his appearance as soon as was expected, and that his 
absence prevented Lincoln's attack upon Prdvost when 
before Charleslown.^ But it is not just to make William- 
son the scapegoat for Lincoln on this occasion. Lincoln 
himself did not, as far as we are aware, attempt to put 
the blame of his delay upon AVilliamson. Indeed, in his 
letter of May 10 (1770) to Moultrie there is no complaint 
of .any one. He writes tliat his men are in full spirits and 
will do honor to themselves; .and on the 12th of May, the 
day of Moultrie's direst necessit)', Lincoln writes that he 
1 Johnson's Traditions, 147. 



528 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was in camp on the Edisto.^ Lincoln's dilatoriness and 
want of energy, wheieb}' he nearly lost the town a year 
before he eventually did, should not be put to William- 
son's account. Williamson was certainly at Stono and at 
the siege of Savannah ; but while in neither of these actions 
did he distinguish himself, his conduct was not criticised 
by any one associated with him at the time. It is true 
that he did not come to the aid of Charlestown in 1780; 
and it is equally true that, had he exercised the capacity, 
vigor, and courage he had exhibited in his Cherokee expe- 
dition, he might have inflicted great loss upon the British 
outposts while they were investing the city. Had he 
been with Washington at Rantowle's he might have added 
greatly to that success; or had he been with Huger at 
Monck's Corner, or with White at Lenuds's Ferry, both of 
those disasters might have been prevented. On the other 
hand, it must be observed he was not altogether idle, for 
strange to say he was then repeating Lincoln's own course 
the year before. Instead of coming himself or sendiug 
Pickens, who was under his command, against the British 
at Charlestown, he sends Pickens into Georgia to assist 
Colonel Twiggs in raiding upon the British at Savannah.^ 
It is not improbable that the dread of the smallpox, which 
still prevailed on the coast, had something to do with this 
conduct on tlie part of Williamson, for it Avas this fear, 
as we have seen, which in a measure at least prevented 
Governor Rutledge from obtaining the militia he had 
expected for the defence of the town. But however that 
may be, just before the fall of Charlestown there had been 
another attempt to concentrate a force of the militia of the 
upper i)art of South Carolina and Georgia to make a diver- 
sion upon the outer posts of the enemy near Savannah, 

1 M.)ultrif\s Mrmiiirs, vol. I, 438. 

2 MeCall's Ilixt. of (frorgia, vol. 11, 29(5. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 529 

with a view to draw away a part of the British force before 
C'harlestown; but at the end of fifteen days there were not 
more than two liundred men from Carolina and but a few 
from Georgia collected, then came the news of the fall of 
Charlestown, and the enterprise was given up. A council 
of officers was called to meet near Augusta, Georgia, to 
determine what shoukl be done. Captain Samuel Ham- 
mond, recently from ^'irginia, an officer who bore a faith- 
ful and prominent part throughout the Revolution, was 
present at this council, and has left an account of what 
transpired which is important not only to the reputation 
of Williamson, but as indicating the condition of public 
opinion at the time in that part of the State. 

Tliere were present at this council Governor Howley of 
Georgia, his Secretary of State and Council, with Colonels 
Clarke, Claiy, and Dooly, and several other Continental 
and militia oflicers from that State, and (General William- 
son and suite with a number of field officers. Williamson 
presented a copy of the articles of capitulation at Charles- 
town, which was read; and various plans were proposed 
and discussed, but none finally resolved npon. Howley 
and his Council thereupon determined to fly to the North 
■with such of the State papers as could be conveniently 
carried with them. Williamson decided to discharge the 
few of his militia then on duty, to retire to his own place, 
Whitehall, near Cambridge, to call together the field 
officers of the brigade and the most influential citizens to 
consult what course should be taken. Colonels Doolv and 
Clarke i)r()mis<'d Williamson to cooperate with him in any 
plan that should be adopted by the council at Whitehall, 
either in defence of tlie lower parts of the two States or to 
retire with him toward North Caiolina. 

Williamson went at once to Whitehall and assembled 
-there a large number of officers; and high hopes were 

VOL. III. 2 M 



530 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

entertained by Captain Hammond before going into the 
council that the determination wouhl be to move into 
North Carolina, without loss of time, with all the force 
collected and all who chose to follow, to join the expected 
army coming to the Soutli. Williamson had under his 
command three independent companies of regular in- 
fantry raised by Carolina, the officers of which were good 
and the troops well disciplined. There were also present 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred unorganized men 
from different parts of the State. Colonel Andrew Pick- 
ens, then on his march for the lower country, was halted 
about three miles below Ninety-Six, and with this force 
Captain Hammond thought a movement into North Caro- 
lina would have been made safely, as the enemy had no 
force near them except the disaffected under Pearis, who 
were neither equal to them in numbers or discipline. 

The council met; the terms of capitulation in Charles- 
town were read; the General commented upon them, took 
a short view of the situation of the countr}-, and concluded 
by advising an immediate movement, but said he would be 
governed by any determination a majority of the council 
should adopt; that they were friends and well informed 
that their families and his must be equally exposed or 
protected by any course that might be adopted. Captain 
Hammond says that he was struck dumb on finding not 
more than one officer of the staff, one field officer, and 
about four or five captains to oppose an immediate accept- 
ance of the terms stipulated for the militia of the State 
upon the capitulation of Charlestown. It was then pro- 
posed and carried that a flag should be sent to Pearis to' 
notify him of their determination and to settle the place 
and manner of surrender. 

Williamson did not however even yet give in. He per- 
severed, as Hammond says, to induce his people to con- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 631 

tiniie the struggle. Colonel Pickens was not of the 
council, but encamped a few miles off. Williamson again 
addressed the council urging a different determination, 
and induced a number of officers to accomjmny him to 
rickens's camp that he might advise with Pickens and 
address the citizens under his command. Arrived there, 
Williamson had a short consultation with Pickens, and 
then addressed his troops drawn up in a square — all 
mounted. His address is said to have been spirited. 
He told them that with his command alone he could drive 
all the British forces in their district before him. The 
articles of capitulation at Charlestown were then again 
read, and he again addressed the troops. He told them 
there was nothing in the way of a safe retreat to North 
Carolina; and that he had no doubt that they would soon 
be able to return in such force as to keep the enemy at 
least confined to Charlestown. He reminded them of what 
they had already done and urged them to persevere; but 
left it to themselves to say what they would do, and that 
he would go or stay as they should resolve. A short pause 
then took place, when Williamson called to them, saying: 
"My fellow-citizens, all of 3-ou who are for going with me 
on a retreat, with arms in your hands, will hold up your 
hands, and all who are for sta3-ing and accepting the terms 
made for you by General Lincoln will stand as you are." 
Two officers with three or four privates held up their 
hands; all the rest stood as they were. The question 
was again put, and the result was the same.^ 

It is manifest from this account that Williamson up to 
this time was true to the cause with which he had been 
prominently connected from its commencement. Indeed, 
it appears that he was more steadfast to it than Pickens, 
for Pickens was not one of tliose who held up their hands 
1 Johnson's Traditions, 149-152. 



532 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to follow him in an effort to force their way to their friends 
in North Carolina. Nor indeed does Captain Hammond, 
who was present at these conferences, blame Williamson 
for his conduct, nor did the' people living in his neighbor- 
hood ever join in the cry against him of treason. The 
truth was that the people of Ninety-Six, who had never 
taken an active or an enthusiastic part in the Revolution, 
refused to sfo on in the face of disaster with a movement 
they had not generally or cordially espoused, and were 
ready to accept the terms offered at Charlcstown. If 
Williamson is at this time to be condemned, for acqui- 
escing in the decision of his people against his urgent 
advice, still more so must Pickens, who refused to join in 
his earnest ajipeals to them not to submit. Nor did their 
courses imuKHlialely separate here. Pickens remained for 
six months, and those of the most stirring times and 
events, as quietly at home as did Williamson. I'lti- 
mately Williamson went to Charlcstown, was taken under 
the special protection of the Britisii, and in some way was 
employed by them. Pickens joined the Americans,' and, 
as .Johnson, in his Life of Grct')u\ observes, fought 
literally with a halter around his neck. The story of 
these two men is not a mere episode in this history. It 
illustrates the struirsfle which was going on in the minds 
and hearts of the people generally throughout the State. 

1 Johnson's Traditions. I'v*. Cai^tain Hanunond refused to aluile l\v 
the decision of tlie eouncil and with a small party of seventy made his way 
to North Carolina, and later became a Colonel in Pickens's command. 



CHAPTER XXV 

1780 

Ox tlie 4tli of June, 17.S0, Sir Henry Clinton wrote 
from the Brewton mansion, his heacl(j[uarters in Charles- 
town, to Lcnil (leorge (Jermain, Secretar}- of State in Ivig- 
land, "I may venture to assert that there are few men in 
South Carolina who are not either our prisoners or in arms 
with us."^ And this was undoubtedly true. There was 
not a Continental officer or soldier in the Held. Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Francis Marion and Major Thomas Pinck- 
ney had been sent out of the garrison before the surrender 
and had eseaj)ed into North Carolina, and so had also 
General Isaac linger, wlio had not been in the town and 
so was not among the prisoners. All the rest of the Soutli 
Carolina Continental oflicers, including General William 
Moultrie, Colonel C. C. Pinckney, and Lieutenant 
Colonel John Laurens, were prisoners at Iladdrell's 
Point, and the Continental soldiers on prison ships in 
the harbor. The militia were disbanded. General Rich- 
ardson had resigned before the siege, Williamson, Piek- 
ens, and Kershaw had surrendered on parole, and Bull 
had retired from the field. Governoi- Rutledge had escaped 
into North Carolina. Charles Pinckney and Daniid 
Huger, members of the Council who had hift the town 
with Governor Rutledge, had come in and given their 
paroles. John Lewis Geivais, the other member of the 
Council who had gone out with them, was at Williams- 
* Tarleton's Campairjns. 



534 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

burg, Virginia.^ Gadsden and his party of the Council, 
Feiguson, llutson, Cattell, and Dr. Ranisa}', with Edward 
Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., 
the three surviving signers of the Dechiration of Inde- 
pendence, and all other prominent men of the Low Coun- 
try in rebellion, were prisoners of war in Charlestown. 
Death, too, had been very busy in the ranks of the origi- 
nal movers in the Revolution. Thomas Lynch had died 
in December, 1776, and his son, Thomas Lynch, Jr., the 
fourth signer of the Declaration of Independence, was lost 
at sea in 1779. The Rev. William Tennent had not long 
survived his efforts for civil and ecclesiastical freedom. 
He had died of a nervous fever on the 11th of August, 
1777. Miles Brewton, one of the original Council of 
Safety of 1775, had left the country, as it will be remem- 
bered, in 1775, and had also perished at sea. William 
Henry Drayton, too, was dead. He had died in Phila- 
delphia, while there as a member of Congress, in Septem- 
ber, 1779.2 In this year, also, had died James Parsons, 

1 Hist, of the Old Cheraws (Gregg), 321. 

2 Early in 1778 Mr. Drayton was elected by the General Assembly of 
South Carolina a delegate to the Continental Congress, fo which he 
repaired at Yorktown in Pennsylvania in the latter part of March. He 
there took an active part against the conciliatory measures of Parlia- 
ment, not only in the Congress itself, but by publication in the press. 
"This," says Ramsay, "is supposed to be the last offering made by his 
pen in favor of America. He was a statesman of great decision and 
energy, and one of the ablest political writers Carolina has produced" 
{Hist, of So. Ca., vol. II, 4.")G). While in Congress Mr. Drayton was 
sent on two important missions. One of these was as a member of a 
committee sent to General Washington at Valley Forge ; the other, to 
meet the French minister on his arrival in the Delaware. He was called 
to account by General Charles Lee for animadversions made by him upon 
the general's conduct at the battle of Monmouth, 28th of June, 1778, 
and challenged, but he declined to meet Lee because of the oflBce he still 
held of Chief Justice of South Carolina, which he regarded as precluding 
his meeting him on the field. He died while attending Congress in Phila- 



IX THE REVOLUTION 535 

broken in spirit after giving his parole to Pr(3vost during 
his invasion; George Gabriel Powell, who had presided at 
the first convention in 1775, was also dead; Colonel Owen 
Roberts had been killed at Stono. Rawlins Lowndes, who 
had always been opposed to independence and separation 
from England, though lie had, as president, approved the 
constitution of 1778, had abandoned the struggle, and, with 
the old men Henry Middleton and Gabriel Maingault, had 
retired to their plantations and accepted the reestablish- 
ment of British rule. Henry Laurens, the first president 
of the Council of Safety, and afterward president of the 
Continental Congress, was in Philadelphia preparing to 
sail for Holland as Minister Plenipotentiary to that king- 
dom, and was soon to be captured at sea and thrown into 
the Tower of London, where he was to remain until the 
end of the war. The Revolutionary party was thus com- 
pletely bi-oken up. There remained of them, out of prison 
or the grave, but one man to continue the struggle; and 
that was John Rutledge. Fortunately, he was clothed 
with full powers to keep alive in his own person, and 
ultimately, if possible, to restore, the State government. 

Tliere can be little doubt that at this time wise rulers 
might with care and moderation have reestablished the 
Royal authority. Had Lieutenant Governor William Bull 
been sent back from England, whither he had gone, and 
reinstated in his government with full commission and 
powers such as the Revolutionists had conferred upon 
John Rutledge; had military rule been superseded, and 
the violence and rapacity of the army put down, — South 
Carolina might probably, even at this late day, have been 
reconciled again to become a British province. But the 
Ruler of Xations had ordered otherwise. 

delphia in September. 1770. His remains were interred in the cemetery 
of Christ Church in that city. 



536 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Three weeks after the capture of the town, to wit, on 
the 5th of June, more than two hundred citizens presented 
an address to Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot, 
congratulating them upon their success and declaring their 
readiness to return to their allegiance to his Majesty. 
These "addressers," as they were styled, were doubtless 
substantial and respectable citizens, but they were neither 
principal inhabitants, as Rivington's Royal Crazette an- 
nounced,^ nor had any of them been leaders in the 
popular government, as Ramsa}^ alleges. ^ If they had, 
neither he nor any other historian of the times has men- 
tioned wherein they took such leading parts. They were 
mostly Scotch merchants doing business in Charlestown ; 
but among them were men of well-known families and 
stanch Royalists. John Wragg heads the list, and 
among the signers were Gideon Dupont, Jr., Jacob Valk, 
Christoplier FitzSimons, Alexander Oliphant, Paul Ham- 
ilton, Robert Wilson, Hugh Rose, Christopher Williman, 
Hopkins Price, Thomas Elfe, Aaron Locock, Isaac Maryck 
(Mazyck), Allard Belin, and John Wagner. None of 
these names appears in any of the revolutionary proceed- 
ings. That the greater part of these addressers had been 
in arms against the British during the siege was not to be 
wondered at when eveiy able-bodied man in the town was 
compelled to do militia duty. One of them, John Wells, 
Jr., it is true, had kept a diary during the siege, from 
which we have quoted and which gives no intimation of 
his favoring the British cause; but his is the only name 
connected with the defence of tlie town which appears in 
the address. Against these addressers there was mucli 
bitterness of feeling on the part of the Revolutionists ; and 
their estates were confiscated by an act of a General 

1 Siege of Charlestmru (Munsoll), 148. 

2 Ramsay's Jievolutuin in So. Ca., vol. II, 110. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 537 

A.ssL'inl)!}- which met in 1782, before the formal end of the 
war. Hnt the athhess itself when read, except for the fact 
that it congratulated the British commanders upon their 
victory, exjjressed only the sentiments of a great number 
of their fellow-citizens. It declared that, although the 
light of taxing America in Parliament excited consider- 
able ferment in the minds of the people, yet it might, 
with a religious adherence to truth, be affirmed that the 
people of South Carolina did not entertain the most dis- 
tant thought of dissolving the union that so happily sub- 
sisted between them and their parent country; and that 
when, in the progress of that fatal controversy, the doc- 
trines of independence (which originated in the more 
northern colonies) made its first appearance among them, 
their very nature revolted at the idea; and they looked 
back with the most profound regret at those convulsions 
that gave existence to a powder for subverting a constitu- 
tion for which they always had, and ever should retain, 
the most profound veneration, and substituting in its stead 
a rank democracy which, however carefully digested in 
theory, on being reduced into practice had exhibited a 
system of domination only to be found among the unciv- 
ilized part of mankind or in the history of the dark and 
barbarous ages of antiquity.^ There w^as in this but little 
enlargement upon John Rutledge's address when he 
refused to approve the constitution of 1778. He had 
refused to a[)prove that document because, he said, it 
closed the door to a reconciliation with the mother coun- 
try, which, he declared, was as desirable then as ever. 
He had then declared, also, that "the people preferred a 
compound or mixed government to a simple democracy or 
one verging toward it, perhaps because, however unex- 
ceptionable democratic power might appear at the first 
* Ramsay's lirvolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 443. 



538 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

view, its effect had been found arbitral}-, severe, and 
destructive."^ 

Tlie addressers went on to declare that they sincerely 
lamented that after the repeal of those statutes which gave 
rise to the trouble in America, the overtures made by his 
.Majesty's commissioners from time to time had not been 
regarded by their late rulers. To this fatal inattention 
were to be attributed, they said, those calamities which 
had involved the country in a state of misery and ruin, 
fi'om which, however, they trusted it would soon emerge 
by the wisdom and clemenc}^ of his Majesty's auspicious 
government and the influence of prudential laws adapted 
to the nature of the evils they labored under; and that the 
people would be restored to those privileges in the enjoy- 
ment whereof their former felicity consisted. 

Though their estates were to be confiscated for the 
declaration of these views in this manner, these address- 
ers doubtless expressed the opinions of many more than 
the two hundred and ten who signed their names to the 
paper. None others, it is true, addressed the British 
commanders in a congratulatory manner, but many applied 
to them for a restoration to their rights as subjects of 
Great Britain upon substantially the same grounds. Ram- 
say declares that after the fall of Charlestown, excepting 
hr the extremities of the State which border on North 
Carolina, the inhabitants who continued in the country 
preferred submission to resistance. 

Besides the dispersion or capture of all the leading 
Revolutionists in the State, and the prevalence of the sen- 
timents expressed in the address to Sir Henry Clinton and 
Admiral Arbuthnot, there Avas another powerful motive 
inducing the people to hasten their submission ; and that 
was the widespread belief, to which we have before alluded, 
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. I, 136. 



TN TflK REVOLUTION 539 

that in order to secure the independence of the others 
Concfross had determined to sacrifice the Southern States. 
The more fact of the failure of Congress to send assistance 
at all adequate to meet the powerful efforts which the 
British })ut forth in the invasion of South Carolina Avas 
of course in itself sullieient to give rise to such an impres- 
sion. But there is strong reason to believe that the appre- 
hension had also substantial basis of fact upon which to 
rest. General Thomas Pinckney, then a Major in the 
Continental service, who, as it has appeared, had been 
sent out of Charlestown and who was with Governor Rut- 
ledge at this time, relates that while at Camden on their 
retreat, Governor Rutledge received a letter from a mem- 
ber of the South Carolina delegation in Congress, inform- 
ing him that despondency for the fate of the Southern 
States was the universal sentiment; hut that he still 
indulged the hope that Carolina would remain a member of 
the Union.^ This guarded and diplomatic language, 
necessarily employed in a correspondence running the 
danger of interception at the time, was fully explained 
by John Mathews, who succeeded Rutledge as Governor, 
but who was then a member of Congress. In after life 
Mathews repeatedly declared that through the intrigues 
and the suggestion of the French ambassador, it was at 
the time contemi)lated by some in Congress to purchase 
from Great Britain peaee and independence of a larr/e portion 
of the United States hi/ the sacrifice of the Carolinas and 
Georgia. Garden, who makes the statement, declares 
tliat Governor Mathews did not conceal the name of the 
individual who had engaged to introduce and advocate 
the measure. Fired with resentment and indignant that 
even in the private circles of societ}' a proposal so base 
and disgraceful should have been inspired, Mathews deter- 
1 Garden's Anecdutcs, 189-191. 



540 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

mined at once to put the virtue of the delegated represen- 
tatives of his country to the test. Repairing to Congress, 
he forcibly reminded them of their bond of union ; that the 
several States were pledged to each other through every 
variety of fortunes to accom[)lish the end of their associa- 
tion or to fall together. "I will regard the man," he 
exclaimed, "who would attem[)t to weaken those sacred 
ties as the fit object of universal execration; and in the 
event that the members of Congress should so far debase 
themselves as to listen to his nefarious proposal, after 
having in conjunction with my colleagues protested 
against the measure and pointed out the source of the 
evil, I will say to my constituents, make your own terms 
with the enemy — no longer regard as associates, nor put 
your trust in men who, appalled b}^ their fears and under 
the influence of a foreign power, to secure themselves 
from harm make no scruj)le to doom their friends to 
destruction." Mr. Bee and Mr. Eveleigh, two other 
members of Congress from South Carolina, supported Mr. 
Mathews in this remonstrance. 

That the subject had been broached and discussed in 
Congress there is no doubt. M. de la Luzerne, writing 
to the Count de Vergennes, thus discusses it: — 

" After the taking of Charlestown the English practised much 
greater moderation towards the inhabitants of the South than they 
had done towards those of the Middle and Eastern States. Their 
l^lan was to sever the Carolinas and Georgia, and they seemed at this 
time to have al)andoned the idea of reducing tlie Northern States. 
They commenced publishing a gazette at Charlestown in which they 
circulated insinuations that the Northern States had abandoned the 
South, and that they were about to make an arrangement with Eng- 
land which would exclude the Carolinas and Georgia. The members 
of Conf/rexx are divided ax to lluir interest and ohjects. Some are for 
using all efforts for rescuinf/ the South. Others think the people there 
have shown too little zeal and activity in the cause, and that it is not expe- 



m THE REVOLUTION 541 

dient to put in jeopardy the safeti/ of the North hi/ rendering extraor- 
dinary aid to people who are so indifferent about their own independence. 
One party speaUs secretly of an expedition against Canada, another 
magnifies the diffioiilties of taking New York, one insists on an ex- 
pedition to the South during the summer, another is for a combined 
enterprise against Quebec. The British at the Soutli talk of peace 
and encourage the people to return to their former allegiance. It is 
possible that the British will viake a proposition to the ten Northern States 
tending to assure their independence^ and their scheme will be to form 
into a new gorernment the two Carolinas, Georgia, East Florida, and the 
Bahama Islands, which together would make a possession."^ 

But there is still more direct evidence. A committee 
had been appointed by Congress to remain near Washing- 
ton's head<|uarters, with large powers as to men and 
supplies, and to sanction any operations which the Com- 
mander-in-chief might not think himself at liberty to take 
without it. This committee consisted of Geneial Philip 
Schuyler, who had been made to give way to Gates just 
before Saratoga, John Mathews from South Carolina, just 
mentioned, and Nathaniel Peabody. On the 21st of May 
Duane, a member of Congress, wrote to Schuyler: — 

" That the reenforcements ordered to the southward should be 
halted is obvious for the reasons you assign. But do you expect 
such a proposition from a Northern member, deeply interested in 
strengthening the main army? It is a question of the utmost deli- 
cacy and even danger; for, however groundless, an opinion has been 
propagaird that Congress ineans to sacrifice the two Southernmost Slates, 
and it has been productive of the greatest animosity and discontent. We 
have privately stated the subject to some of the Southern gentlemen, 
who, though I believe convinced of the propriety of the measure, did 
not choose to have it adopted, much less to propose it. There is but 
one person from whom it can originate with any prospect of success. 
If we had undertaken it, nothing would have resulted but disappoint- 
ment and the loss of personal confidence." ^ 

1 Washington's Writings, vol. VI, 92, note. 
* Ibid. , supra. , 



542 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Was the opinion groundless that Congress meant to 
sacrifice the two Southern States when a member of it was 
thus apj)roving of a proposition of the chairman of the 
Committee on the Conduct of the War that all reenforce- 
ments for them should be halted? Was it not, in this 
letter, contemplated to abandon them to their fate ? And 
was it surprising that such views, however carefully 
guarded, should be divulged, and create animosity and 
discontent? 

A matter of such vital importance could not be kept 
within the confines of secret correspondence and discus- 
sions. It assumed a consequence which compelled Con- 
gress to take formal notice of it, and to adopt a resolution 
denying the report, and declaring that the confederacy 
was most sacredly pledged to support the liberty and inde- 
pendence of every one of the States.^ But this, it was 
thought, Avas manifestly a case of protesting too much. 
Had there been no substantial ground for the report, there 
would have been no occasion for its denial. But whether 
such a proposition was ever seriously entertained in Con- 
gress or not, or whether or not it amounted to anything 

1 The following is a copy of the resolution (Ramsay's devolution in 
So. Ca., vol. II, 448): — 

" Whereas it has been reported, in order to seduce the States of South 
Carolina and Georgia from their allegiance to the United States, that a 
treaty of peace betwixt America and Great Britain was about to take 
place, and that these two States would be ceded to Great Britain. 

" Resolved unanimously. That the said report is insidious and utterly 
void of foundation. That this confederacy is most sacredly pledged to 
support the liberty and independency of every one of the members ; and 
in a firm reliance on the divine blessing will unremittingly persevere in 
every exertion for the establishment of the same, and for the recovery 
and preservation of any and every part of the United States that have 
been, or may hereafter be, invaded or possessed by the common enemy. 

" Extract from the minutes. 

"Charles Thomson, Secretary.'''' 



IN THE REVOLUTION 543 

more than private suggestion and discussion, certain it is 
that the British coninianders availed themselves of the 
rumor and spread it broadcast in proclamations through 
the country. 1 

This undoubtedly was a most critical period in the 
Revolution. What might have been the consequences if 
wisdom had swayed the British commanders in South 
Carolina, says Garden, it appalls one to contemplate. 
Fatigued by the toils of war, disappointed by reiterated 
disasters, the prospect of success but glimmering at a dis- 
tance and by many altogether despaired of, had the newly 
submitting inhabitants been suffered to enjoy the sweets 
of repose and the benefits of the securitj^ guaranteed by 
the capitulation, had kindness been substituted for 
oppression and persuasion used in lieu of force, though 
independence might ultimately have been gained it must 
have been at a more remote period and by far greater sacri- 
fices both of treasure and blood. ^ Fortunately for the 
American cause the conduct of Sir Henr}- Clinton, Lord 
Cornwallis, and Lord Rawdon was so injudicious as to 
subject them to the pointed animadversions even of their 
own historians. The restoration of the colony to his 
Majesty's rule and the reestablishment of peace and pros- 
perity does not appear to have been their first thought. 
Prdvost's pillage had excite^l their rapacity, and the seiz- 
ure of plunder and the division of spoils Avere the first 
matters which obtained their consideration. 

Sir TTi'ury Clinton states that, having been appointed 
by his I\Lajesty his sole commissioner to his revolted colo- 
nies^ and the commander-in-chief of his armies, he con- 

* Colonel Hill's MSS., Campaigns of 1780. Sumter papers. 
« Garden's Anecdotest, 248. 

* This statement of Sir Henry Clinton is incon.sistent willi tlie fact 
tliat he joins Admiral Arbuthnot with him as "his Majesty's commis- 



544 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ceived it derogatory to the higli station in which he was 
placed to have any concern in the prizes taken ; but he 
nevertheless seems to have regarded it his dutj'to organize 
a most complete system of rapine and plunder. From a 
desire, as he says, of acting upon the most liberal princi- 
ples with the navy in this matter during the siege, lie sent 
Colonel Webster to inform Admiral Arbuthnot of a con- 
siderable quantity of stores which had already fallen into 
their hands, and to offer the navy a share, although he 
claimed that in strictness they could have no claim, as the 
stores were not taken on any river or even on any branch 
of a river which had a communication with the sea. Upon 
this, after the siege, certain officers of the navy were 
deputed to meet the field officers of the army to determine 
their respective shares ; but they could not agree, the navy 
claiming a full half and the army being only willing to 
allow them a fourth, as being in proportion to their respec- 
tive numbers. The dispute thus originating was not 
ended for years after the war; but with its progress this 
history is not concerned.^ It is sufficient for the present 
that Commissioners of Captures were appointed. These 
were Major Moncreif, Major George Hay, and James 
Fraser, Esquire. As the Royal army was now much more 
numerous and extended over the country on all sides and 
had the convenience of a large fleet on the coast, and more 
leisure to attend to the business of pillage than had been 
practicable during Provost's invasion, it was more thor- 
oughly systematized and much greater collections were 
made. Great quantities of silver plate were secured, not 

sioners to restore peace and good c;overnniont in the several colonies of 
North America," in their proclamation of June 1, 1780. 

^ Memoranda &r. Jiesprrtiin/ Unprecedcntpd Treatment rrln'rh the 
Army hare met xnith llespertind phinder taken after a siefie. And of 
which Plunder the I^ain/ serrinr/ irith the Arrni/ Divided More than ample 
share Xuic Fourteen Years since, ramplilet, London, 171)4. 



IX THE EEVOLTITIOX 646 

only on the plantations and in Charlestown, but silver 
was found buried even in Fort Moultrie,^ and a large 
amount of it was taken in Camden, where it had been 
sent from tlie coast for safety. ^ Several gentlemen lost in 
Ihe invasions of 1779 and 1780 each from five hundred to 
two thousand dollars worth of plate. ^ Great quantities of 
indigo were taken, the value amounting to thousands of 
dollars. The merchants had sent their commodities out 
of the town, and stored them often near the water lines. 
These collections very generally fell into the hands of the 
British. At Camden were found many hogsheacls of 
indigo and tobacco and stores of all kinds.* Spoil col- 
lected in this way was disposed of for the benefit of the 
Royal army. The quantity brought to market was so 
great that, though it sold uncommonly low, yet the divi- 
dend of a major general was u[)ward of X4000 sterling; 
while the private plunder of individuals on their separate 
accounts was often more than their proportion of the gen- 
eral stock." Over and above what was sold in Carolina 
several vessels Avere sent abroad loaded with rich spoils 
taken from the inhabitants. Upward of two thousand 
plundered negioes were shipped off at one embarkation.^ 
All of this plunder was supposed to have been taken from 
the rebels; but the Hessians made as little distinction in 
Carolina between friend and foe as they had in the Jer- 
seys, and horses and provisions were always taken from 
one as well as the other. There was, however, some pro- 

* Moore'.s Diartj, vol. II, 274, note. 

2 Sh'iie of Chnrlestoir)) (Mmi.sell), 186. 

* Kamsay's Rm-olntinu in So. Ca., vol. II, G7. 

* Stcadman's Am. War. vol. II, 200. 

* The value of the spoil which was distributed by English and Hes- 
sian i-(ininiissarit's of captures amounted to about three hundred thousand 
piiiui Is .sterling. Bancroft, vol. V, 378. 

'■• l{:unsay'3 Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 66. 

VOL. III. — 2 N 



546 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAllOLINA 

vision, though utterly inadequate, made for payment for 
the hitter. When horses or supplies were taken from 
known Loyalists, receipts were given; but when taken 
from parties whose principles were not so certainly known, 
certificates were issued. The distinction between these 
two classes of paper was that where the word "receipt" 
was made use of it was intended that the proprietor should 
be paid upon his presenting the receipt in Charlestown, 
and many of these receipts were afterward actually paid 
by orders on the British paymaster general. Where the 
word'"certilicate " was made use of, it was intended as an 
evidence in the hands of the holder of such property 
having been taken, but its payment was to depend on 
consequences, that is, on the merit or demerit of the party 
at the end of the war. Those who obtained certificates 
were great losers, having to dispose of them to specu- 
lators, who would take them at an enormous discount.^ 
This was a cause of great dissatisfaction to the King's 
friends as well as to his enemies. 

As had happened in Prevost's invasion, the negroes 
flocked to the British encampments, where, crowded 
together, they were attacked by camp fever; and small- 
pox, which had appeared in Charlestown and on the coast 
just before the invasion for the first time in seventeen 
years, took fast hold among them, spreading very rapidly. 
From these diseases and the want of proper shelter Jind 
care great numbers of these poor creatures died and were 
left unburied in the woods. A few instances occurred in 
which infants were found in unfrequented retreats 
attempting to draw the breasts of their dead mothers.'^ 

In furtherance of the plan "of carrying his Majesty's 
arms from South to North," Sir Henry Clinton had 

1 Steadmaii's .1?h. War, vol. II, 206. 

2 Ramsay's EevoliUum in So. Ca., vol. II, 67. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 547 

expected, with the large force he had taken to Charles- 
town, to capture tlie city at once, and then himself to 
proceed to the Chesapeake, leaving Earl Cornwallis with 
a sullicient force, not only to hold Charlestown, but to 
proceed into the interior upon the old idea that the people 
there, especially the Scotch at Cross Creek, would rise, 
enable the earl to set up a Royal government, and reen- 
force his army to an extent which would allow him to 
proceed into Virginia and iNIaryland, and there unite with 
him, Eidtimore being their objective point, ^ and then to 
proceed still farther northward.^ But the siege of Charles- 
town had been protracted; the town would not yield as 
had been expected, and for some reason Sir Henry Clin- 
ton would not carry it by storm, as he might easily have 
done in April. The delay was fatal to the present devel- 
opment of the proposed campaign. The season was 
regarded by the British, who dreaded the heat of the 
Southern climate, as too far advanced for such an under- 
taking; while with the approaching summer Washing- 
ton's forces, it was supposed, would be augmented, and 
he would probably be himself on the move. To add to 
this, intelligence had been received that a French fleet, 
consisting of seven sail of the line and five frigates, with 
a large land force, connnanded bj' M. de Terna}', was to 
have sailed from France early in the 3"ear, so that its 
arrival on the coast might soon be expected. Sir Henry 
Clinton was therefore anxious, not only to return to New 
York himself, but to take Avith liim a large part of the 
army he had brought thence for the siege of Charlestown. 
On the 1st of June Sir Henry, preparing for his return 
to New York, addressed a letter of instructions to Earl 

1 Clinton- Cornwall is Controversy (Stevens), vol. I, 65-102, 144-210, 
213-214, ;W4, 4(57 ; vol. II, 32. 

2 Annmtl lietjistir (1781), vol. XXIV, 57. 



548 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Cornwallis, wlio was then in Camden, sketching the plan 
of cani[)aign he proposed to adopt. lie wrote that, as his 
lordship knew, it was a part of his plans to have gone into 
Chesapeake Bay, bnt that from information he had received 
— no doubt of tlie coming of the French fleet — it might 
be necessary to hasten to New York. When his lordship 
had finished his present campaign, that is, the crushing out 
any opposition that might remain in the State, he would 
be better able to judge what would be necessary to secure 
South Carolina and recover North Carolina. Shojild his 
lordship so far succeed in both provinces as to be safe from 
any attack during the approaching season, after leaving' 
a sufficient force in garrison and. such other outpost as he 
should think necessary, and such troops by way of moving 
corps as he should think sufficient, added to such pro- 
vincial and militia corps as he should judge proper to 
raise, he should wish his lordship to assist in operations 
which w^ould be carried on on the Chesapeake as soon as 
Admiral Arbuthnot and himself w^ere relieved for appre- 
hension of a superior fleet — i.e. of the appearance of a 
French fleet — and the season would allow. This might 
happen, he wrote, about September, or, if not earlier, in 
October. He therefore proposed that his lordship, with 
wdiat force he could spare at the time from his important 
posts (which, however, should always be considered as 
the principal object), should meet the admiral, who would 
bring with him such additional force as he could spare to 
the Chesapeake. "Our first object," he wrote, "will 
l)robably be the taking posts at Norfolk or Suffolk or near 
the Hampton Road, and then proceeding up the Cliesa- 
peake to Baltimore."^ There was great controversy sub- 
sequently over these instructions: Sir Henry Clinton 
maintaining that the movement across North Carolina into 
1 Clinton- Cornwall is Controversy (H. F. Stevens, London), 213-214. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 549 

Virginia was to he {lepeiident upon Eail Cornwallis's suc- 
cess in South Carolina; his k)rdship, on the other hand, 
insisting that he had heen left no discretion but advance, 
as his part in the grand ministerial plan of campaign of 
canjing the war from South to North. 

The scheme of subduing one part of the Americans by 
the other, and of establishing such an internal force in 
each subjugated colony as would be nearly, if not entirely, 
c(]ual to its future preservation and defence, had been often 
held out and urged in England as exceedingly practicable, 
and, indeed, as requiring only adoption to insure its suc- 
cess. Preceding commanders had been much blamed at 
home for their supposed negligence in not availing them- 
selves of means which were represented as so obvious, and 
which, it was said, would be so decisive of the war.^ 
The wisdom of the measure* depended of course entirely 
upon the number of persons in the colony so attached to 
the British government as to be Avilling, not only to main- 
tain their own allegiance to the King, but to take up 
arms against their neighbors, friends, and, in very many 
instances, kinsmen. 

South Carolina, it was supposed, presented a favorable 
Oi)portunity of trying this plan from which so nuich was 
expected; and Sir Henry Clinton determined, therefore, 
before leaving, to inaugurate the policy. A handbill 
was publislied and circulated amongst the inhabitants 
by which they were reminded that as the connnander- 
in-chief upon his first arrival in the province had taken 
no steps whatsoever to excite the loyal inhal)itants to 
rise in favor of the Royal government whilst the King's 
troops, em[)loyed in the siege of Charlestown, miglit be 
unable to assist thcui in tiieir efforts, nor had he dra\\ u 
tlie King's friends into danger whilst any doubt could 
1 Annual liryister (1780), vol. XXV, 22.3. 



550 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

remain of tlieir success; now that success was certain lie 
trusted that one and all would heartily join, and, hy a 
general concurience, give effect to such necessary meas- 
ures as might from time to time be pointed out. The 
helping hand of every man, it was said, was Avanted to 
reestablish peace and good government. Those who had 
families might form a militia to remain at home and pre- 
serve peace and good order in their own districts, Avhilst 
those who were young and had no families, it Avas expected 
would be ready to assist the King's troops in driving 
their oppressors and all persons Avhatsoever acting under 
the authority of Congress far from the })rovince. For this 
purpose they should prepare themselves to serve with the 
King's troops for any six out of the next twelve months, 
under officers of their own choice, Avith the express stipu- 
lation that they should be allowed Avhen on service the 
same pay, ammunition, and provisions as the King's 
troops, and should not be obliged to march beyond North 
Carolina on the one side or Georgia on the other. Having 
served for that period, it Avas said they Avould have paid 
their debt to their country, would be freed from all further 
claims of militar}'- service, except the usual militia duty 
at home, and Avould be entitled to enjoy undisturbed that 
peace, liberty, and security of property Avhich they had 
contributed to establish.^ A proclamation Avas also issued 
b}' the commander-in-chief, on the 22d of Maj^ by Avhich 
effectual countenance, protection, and support Avere 
promised to the King's faithful and peaceable subjects, 
and the most exemplary severity, Avith confiscations of 
property, denounced against those Avho should hereafter 
appear in arms Avithin the province against his Majesty's 
government, or Avho should attempt to compel others to do 
so, or Avho should hinder or intimidate any of the King's 
1 Steadman's Am. War. vol. 11, 100 ; Tarletoa's Campaigns, 68, note. 



IN THE DEVOLUTION 551 

faitliful and loving subjects from joining his forces or 
pert'orniiiig those dnties wliicli their allegiance required. 
On the 1st of June another proclamation was issued in the 
names of Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot, as 
commissioners for restoring peace to the colonies, by 
Avliich a full and free pardon was promised to all those 
who, having been misled from their duty, should immedi- 
ately return to their allegiance and a dne obedience to the 
laws, excepting only such as were polluted with the blood 
of their fellow-citizens, shed under the mock forms of jus- 
tice, for their loyalty to their sovereign and adherence to 
the British government. The promise of effectual coun- 
tenance, protection, and support was renew^ed to the loyal 
and well affected, and as soon as the situation of the 
province would admit of it a reinstalment of the inhabit- 
ants in the possession of all those rights and immunities 
which they formerly enjoyed under the British govern- 
ment; and also an exemption from taxation, except hy their 
own legislation.^ 

So far no one could complain. Having obtained posses- 
sion of the countr}-, it was no more than the duty of the 
military commanders to protect the loyal citizens in the 
exercise of their rights under the King, and to restore 
the Royal government. They had the right, also, to call 
for the military services of those who professed their 
allegiance to his Majesty. Neutrality ^in the present 
condition of affairs was impossible. There could be no 
halting between the two conditions of men described by 
Clinton in his dispatches annonncing his victory. Every 
one must choose whether he would be a prisoner or w'ould 
bear arms for the King. Whether it was wise to call for 
and enforce such service between friends and neighbors 

1 Steailman's Am. ]Var, vol. II, 101-192 ; Tarleton's Campaigns, 73- 
74 ; Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 438. 



552 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

was a grave question of expediency wortliy of the con- 
queror's most serious consideration. But his right to 
decide it was beyond question. The promise of pardon 
to those wlio had risen in arms to resist taxation without 
representation, — all that the South Carolinians had ever 
intended, — coupled with the promise of exemption from 
future taxation except by their own legislation, was a fair 
proposition. It gave to the South Carolinians all that they 
had demanded, and that with full pardon for the rebellious 
means they had employed to secure it. These measures 
were well calculated to encourage the loyal, and on the 
one hand to intimidate, and on the other to soothe, the 
rebellious, especially in view of the prevalent belief that 
South Carolina was to be abandoned by Congress. Up to 
this point everything was in the most prosperous train 
for the reestablishment of the Royal government. The 
people generally accepted the proffered terras of peace as 
they understood them; and all, with few exceptions, on 
applying, obtained either paroles as prisoners of war or 
protection as British subjects ; the latter were required to 
subscribe a declaration of their allegiance to the King, but 
this, however, was frequently omitted in the hurry of 
business, and the privileges of British subjects were 
freely bestowed on some without any reciprocal engage- 
ments.^ 

Fortunately for the cause of American independence, 
two events now occurred which checked the growing sen- 
timent in favor of the King and aroused the deepest 
resentment and indignation. One of these Avas the 
accounts, just received, of Tarleton's barbarous massacre 
at the Waxhaws ; and the other a proclamation issued by 
Sir Henry Clinton on liis departure for New York. Tarle- 
ton's barbarity, instead of striking terror into the hearts of 
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 114 ; Gordon's Am. War, 385. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 553 

tlie peo[)le, excited rather a thirst for revenge. Clinton's 
proehiniation put an enil to all hopes of neutrality. 

It has been seen liow long Lincoln had stood out to 
obtain the teinis demanded by Gadsden for the militia and 
citizens ; viz. that they should be secured in their persons 
and properties and should not be considered as prisoners, 
and that Sir Ilenry Clinton had, on the contrary, insisted 
upon tlieir surrender as prisoners of war. The British 
commander had prevailed, and the militia and citizens 
were surrendered upon the terms he demanded. Then 
had followed the surrender of Williamson and Pickens at 
Ninety-Six, and of Kersliaw at Camden, upon the terms 
granted the garrison in Charlestown — that is, as pris- 
oners of war. The same terms had been held out to the 
people at large, and liad been very generally accepted. 
But now Sir Henry Clinton realized that the condition he 
liad so persistently insisted upon forcing on tlie peo[)le of 
the State practically precluded the carrying out of the plan 
of using one part of the inhabitants of the province to hold 
down the others. By accepting the opponents of the Royal 
authority as prisoners of war he had, in effect, secured 
them in their neutrality as long as the war existed. To 
meet this dilliculty Sir Henry determined to alter the con- 
dition of those who had submitted upon parole, and to 
require of them the duties of active citizens and loyal sub- 
jects. For this purpose a proclamation was issued, bear- 
ing date the 3d of June, declaring that all inhabitants of 
the province wIjo were prisoners on parole and were not in 
the military line (those who were in Fort Moultrie and 
Charlestown at tlie times of their capitulation and surren- 
der, or wlio were then in actual conlinenumt, excepted) 
should from and after tlie 20th of that month be freed and 
exempted from all such paroles and be restored to all the 
rights and duties of citizens and inhabitants. And by the 



554 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

same proclamation it Avas also declared thiit all persons 
under the above description who should afterward neglect 
to return to their allegiance and a due submission to Jiis 
Majesty's government should be considered as enemies 
and rebels to the same, and be treated accordingl}'. This 
proclamation was the point upon which the continuance 
of the Revolution in South Carolina turned.^ 

It was not long, says Steadman, before tile seeds of dis- 
content appeared, which, when fully matured, produced a 
counter-revolution in the minds and inclinations of the 
people as complete and as universal as that which suc- 
ceeded the fall of Charlestown. Of those originally- 
attached to the American cause wdio, since the capture of 
Charlestown, had submitted to the British government 
either by taking the oath of allegiance or obtaining a 
parole, some w'ere influenced by the ruinous appearance 
of American affairs, the despair of ultimate success, and a 
wish to save the remains of their property that had escaped 
the ravages and devastations of war; others were influ- 
enced by the fear of punishment if they persisted longer 
in maintaining an opposition apparently fruitless; and 
not a few by the hope of being suffered to live quietly 
upon their estates as prisoners upon parole and enjoying 
a kind of neutrality during the remainder of the war. 
The determination of Congress to send a part of General 
Washington's army to the assistance of their adherents in 
South Carolina, though now so late, of Avhich they had 
just learned, dispelled the apprehensions of the two first 

1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Cn., vol. 11, 441 ; Tarleton's Campaigns, 
73; McCall's 7//.s^ nf Georyia, vol. II, 319. '> It is ri'iiiarkable," .says 
Curwen, "that in the rebellion of '08 in Ireland the .same plan was 
adopted and successfully executed by Lord Cornwallis, aided by two 
at least of those who had been his chief agents in Soutii Carolina — 
Lord Rawdon, then Earl of Moira, and Colonel Wemyss, then General 
Wemyss." Curwen's JouDial and Letters, 670. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 555 

of these classes, and aroused afresh their hopes. And the 
hist was disgusted by the prochiination of Sir Henry Clin- 
ton, which, without their consent, abrogated the paroles 
that had been granted, and in one instant converted them 
either into loyal subjects or rebels. If it was proper 
policy, continues this author, at first to hold a middle 
course between these opposite extremes, the same policy 
required that it should have been continued for some time 
lonsfer, aiul that the conditions of the iidiabitants should 
have been altered rather at their own application, either 
individually or coUectivel}', than by the arbitrary fiat of 
the connnander-in-chief. In this manner a pjroper dis- 
crimination mififht have been made between the inhabitants 
who Avere really loyal and those wdio w^ere nominally so; 
but by i)ui'suing the opposite course they were all blended 
indiscriminately together. Even the violent Revolution- 
ist, unless he chose to leave the country, Avas obliged to 
assume the a[)pearance of loyalty; and thus the foundation 
of mutual jealousy and distrust was laid amongst the 
inhabitants themselves. The Revolutionists complained 
that their condition was altered without their concurrence ; 
and the Loyalists murmured because notorious rebels, by 
taking the oath of allegiance and putting on a show^ of 
attachment, became entitled to the same privileges with 
themselves.^ 

A much less candid view of the situation at this time 
was presented in an article in the Royal Gazette of the 
9th of February, 1782, and by the request — equivalent to 
an order — of Colonel lialfour, the commandant of the 
town, republished by Robert Wells & Son, Printers to 
his Majesty, in each issue of that journal for a fortnight, 
as containing a true representation of the conduct of the 
inhabitants, and the treatment those deserved who had 
» Steadman's .l»i. War, vol. II. 198, 199. 



556 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

violated their parole. This paper, detailing at some 
length the principles upon which paroles and protections 
were granted, went on to say that the white inhabitants 
were in this manner divided into two classes, the one of 
prisoners on parole and the other of voluntaiy subjects. 
Then, after a long dissertation on the different modes of 
treating prisoners in different states of society in order 
to show that humanity was neither commanded by the law 
of nature, which authorized the putting to death of ene- 
mies by every fair means, nor by the law of nations, 
which vests in the captors an absolute property in the 
prisoner; and that paroles therefore could never have been 
demanded as a matter of right, but were given or not 
agreeably to the opinion entertained of the integrity of 
the prisoner, the author went on to argue that if this con- 
fidence was found to have been misplaced and that which 
was meant as a humane indulgence was converted into a 
source of injury, the more dangerous as unexpected and 
unguarded against, reason dictated that the offender 
should be treated agreeably to this severest right of war, 
which authorized the death of all persons taken in battle. 
This paper, thus put out by authority as representing the 
views of the British commanders, avoided the question in 
issue, and assumed the whole matter in dispute. And 
this was simply: Had the British the right to alter the 
terms they had given to the Americans while the latter 
had arms in their hands, and on tlie faith of which they 
had laid them down? There had been no surrender at 
discretion; the surrender had been upon terms — terms, it 
is true, dictated b}'^ the coiujuerors, but still upon terms. 
This was not a case in wliich the conquerors had tlie pris- 
oner in possession and might take or spare liis life at 
pleasure. On the (contrary. Sir Henry Clinton h:ul 
obtained the surrender of the garrison of Chailestowu 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 557 

iil)on a contra(;t and pledge that the militia and citizens 
should be treated as prisoners of war on parole, and the 
same terms had Ijeen held out and granted to others who 
would come in and surrender. By this promise and pledge 
the British had obtained material advantages. Sir Henry 
Clinton may not yet have had positive information of the 
sailing of the French fleet when he made this stipulation; 
but he knew that France was at war with his nation, and 
that he might expect at any time an attack from that quar- 
ter, either for the relief of the besieged town or upon New 
York or elsewhere. It was of the greatest consequence to 
him, therefore, to procure the suriender of Charlestown 
as speedily as possible, and that without the loss neces- 
sarily attendant upon a storm of the works. These advan- 
tages he obtained by the promise that the militia and 
citizens should be treated as prisoners on parole. 

But it was further argued in this paper, as it was 
assumed in tiie proclamation, that because the rebel forces 
in South Carolina had been dispersed, the province should 
be regarded as having been reconquered and regained to 
his Majesty, and that hence the duration and protection 
of the parole had come to an end. This specious argu- 
ment was much relied upon. But it will not bear a 
moment's examination. The parole was surely to con- 
tinue during the war unless the person giving it was 
recaptured or exchanged. But what was the war during 
Avhich it was so to hold? The terms of the surrender of 
Charlestown and the army had been negotiated with Gen- 
eral Lincoln, a Continental officer. General Provost, the 
year before, had refused to treat with Governor Rutledge 
as representing the State of South Carolina, and would 
only treat with General Moultrie, a (Continental officer. 
The army surrendenMl was a Continental army — that is, 
it was an armv of tlie thirteen United States. The war 



658 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLIXA 

was between Great Britain on the one side and the tliir- 
teen United States and France on the other; and it was 
well known to the Britisli that there was a treaty between 
France and the United States by which neitlier country 
could make peace without the consent of the other. The 
war, therefore, during which the parole was to be of 
force was the general war between these powers, and not 
a war between Great Britain and South Carolina. It 
might be, as it did afterward happen, that South Carolina 
should be regained to the States. Unless the person 
giving the parole was therefore released by exchange or 
recapture, he was a prisoner until the government of tlie 
United States was overthrown or peace was declared be- 
tween those States collectively, France, and England. 
The attempt by the proclamation arbitrarily to change the 
condition of the South Carolinian who had surrendered 
from that of a prisoner to that of a subject was a violation of 
the contract of surrender, and released every one to whom 
it was ap})lied from the obligation of his parole. This 
was the view taken by many who would otherwise have 
remained neutral daring the rest of the war. 

The British commanders made another mistake as dis- 
astrous to the cause of the King as the breach of faith in 
the matter of the paroles. The great body of the Scotch- 
Irish who had come into the province during the twenty 
years preceding the Revolution, as has been before 
observed, had taken no active part in tlie movement. 
They had had their own more pressing troubles with the 
robbers, horse-thieves, and vagrants on the frontier; and 
while the dispute had been going on in the Low Country 
about taxation without representation in the Parliament 
in England, the}^ had been trying in vain to obtain repre- 
sentation in the local government at home, and counts to 
preserve order and administer justice in the land they 



IX TFIE REVOLUTION 559 

were settling. True, as lias elsewhere been explained, it 
had not been the fault or neglect of the people on the coast 
that these evils had not been remedied, and that their 
unfortunate condition was allowed to continue. It had 
been the fault of the government in England.^ But this 
was not understood by these people at the time. They 
were not concerned about the taxation on the tea nor the 
collection of revenue, which they did not feel; nor, on 
the other hand, were they disposed to unite in a revolu- 
tion under the lead of those by whom they considered 
themselves aggrieved. The Rev. Mr. Tennent had, there- 
fore, met with little success in his mission in 1775, nor 
had he succeeded in arousing their sympathies to any 
great extent by his broadsheets upon the disestablishment 
of the Church in 1778. These pious, God-fearing, indus- 
trious people had scarcely been heard from during the four 
years the war liad lasted. Some few of them had been 
with Richard Winn in Richardson's Snow Campaign and^ i 
in liis company under Thomson on Sullivan's Island on / 
the 28th of June, 1776; some had been with John McLure 
at Monck's Corner; and a few more had gone with Davie 
to Charlestown and fought at Stono; but the people gen- 
erally to the north of Camden were merely passive. They 
liad not as yet been enlisted in the cause and had taken no 
part in the contest when Tarleton burst upon them in pur- 
suit of Buford, and horrified, and for the moment stunned 
tlicm, by his terrible massacre. But butchery, however 
horrible, was not to appall men who were descended from 
the defenders of Londonderry and Enniskillen. It only 
aroused the dormant fierceness and indomitable courage of 
their nature. 

Fortunately, says Johnson, the British felt too confi- 
dent in themselves, or too nuuh contempt for their enemy, 
1 ffist. of So. Ca. Jimhr J!<»j. Gar. (McCrady), G23-C43. 



560 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to act with moderation or policy. Amidst the infatuation 
of power and victory their commanders appear to have for- 
gotten that a nation may submit to conquest, but never to 
insult. They seem to have forgotten also that religion, 
whicli looks to another world for its recompense or enjoy- 
ments, becomes the most formidable enemy that can be 
raised up in this. As the Dissenters of New England 
had the rei)utation of having excited the war. Dissenters 
generally became objects of odium to the enemy. Hence 
their meeting-houses were often burnt or destroyed. One 
of them in Charlestown was converted into a horse-stable ; 
in the populous settlement of the Waxhaws their minister 
was insulted, his house and books burnt, and helium inter- 
necionis declared against all the Bibles which contained 
the Scotch version of the Psalms.^ At the command of 
Major Wemyss, Avho used the torcli as Tarleton did the 
sword, the church of ludiautown, in what was then St. 
Mark's Parish, was burnt because he regarded all Presby- 
terian churches as "sedition shops." The Holy Bible, 
too, with "Rouse's Psalms" indicated the hated rebel- 
lious sect, and was universall}^ consigned to the flames.^ 
Thus, in the course of a few weeks, the British had 
released their prisoners from their paroles and liad con- 
verted the neutrals in the State into tlieir most implacable 
enemies. The war spirit was no longer confined to a class 
in South Carolina; it had taken fire and pervaded the 
whole people. The heroic period was now to begin. 

1 Life of Greene (Johnson), vol. II, 287-288. 

2 Hist, of Williamsbury Church, 56. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

1780 

Sir Henry Clinton, having issued his famous procla- 
mations, the effects of wliich have been tokl, embarked for 
New York on the 5tli of June, carrying with liim all the 
troops that could be spared, leaving the Earl of Cornwallis 
in the command of those that remained, with the charge, 
as we have seen, of carrying the war into North Carolina 
as soon as the season of the year and other circumstances 
would permit. The force left under Lord Cornwallis 
amounted to about four thousand men, and these men in 
the meantime were dispersed in cantonments so as to cover 
the frontiers of both South Carolina and Georgia. The 
principal force was at Camden, under the command of Lord 
Kawdon.^ It consisted of the Twenty-tliird and Thirty- 

1 Francis, Lord Rawdon, Earl of Moira, was born December 7, 1754, 
and was at this time but twenty-six years of age. Having completed his 
education, about the commencement of the American war his lordship 
entered the army, and embarked with his regiment for Boston. He dis- 
tinguished himself at the battle of Hunker Hill. His rise in the army by 
puroha.se and family interests was very rapid. In 1778 he was appointed 
Adjutant General to Sir Henry Clinton, with the rank of I-ieutenant 
Colonel in the army. In this position he rendered conspicuous service 
in the Jerseys and at Monmouth. He was now about to enter upon 
a career scarcely less dLstinguishcd than that of Lord Cornwallis, and 
like him was after the Revolution to be sent to India as Governor Gen- 
eral. Lord Hawdon on his return to England was created a peer of 
Great Britain, and nominated oTie of his Majesty's aide.s-de-camp, but he 
afterward joined the Prince of Wales's fast set. It is said that the paper 
of his Hoyal Highness, Lord Moira, and the Archbishop of CanterUnry 
(Coniwallis) was sold by a butcher in St. James at twenty-live per cent 
VOL. in. — 2 o 661 



562 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

third Regiments, the Volunteers of Ireland, a corps raised 
by Lord Rawdon while the British army was in possession 
of Philadelpliia, and which became famous for its fighting 
qualities, Tarleton's legion, Browne's and Hamilton's corps 
of provincials, and a detachment of artiller3\ Major J\Ic- 
Arthur with the two battalions of the Seventy-first was 
advanced to Cheraw to cover the country between Cam- 
den and Georgetown, and to open communication with tlie 
lo3'al Highland settlement at Cross Creek. Georgetown 
was garrisoned by a detachment of provincials. Camden 
was connected with the District of Ninety -Six hy a strong 
post at Rocky Mount upon the Catawba, at the point of 
division between the present counties of Chester and Fair- 
field. This post was garrisoned by the New York volun- 
teers and some militia under Lieutenant Colonel Turnbull. 
At Ninety-Six were stationed thiee battalions of Royal 
provincials and some companies of light infantrj" at first 
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Balfour, and afterward 
by Lieutenant Colonel Cruger. Major Ferguson's corps 
of Roj'al provincials and a body of loyal militia were not 
stationary, but traversed the country between the Catawba 
and the Saluda. At Augusta Lieutenant Colonel Browne 
commanded, with his own, a detachment of some other 
regiments. The rest of the British troops were stationed 
at Charlestown, Beaufort, and Savannah. Brigadier Gen- 
■ eral Patterson commanded at Charlestown and Lieutenant 
Colonel Alured Clark at Savannah. ^ The British line thus 
ran through the present counties of Chesterfield, Kershaw, 

on the pound. It is a curious and interesting fact that Lord Rawdon, 
Tarleton, Hanger, and McMahon, wlio served togetlier in South Carolina, 
were afterward all intimates of the coterie of the Prince as against the 
father, his Majesty George III. Brititih Militanj Lihrarij (London, 1801), 
vol. I, 85 ; Mnnoirs of George /F" (Robert Iluish, London, 1830), 303. 
1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 195. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 563 

Fairfield, Newberry, and Abbeville. They held quiet pos- 
session of all the State to the south and east of that line. 

In the beginning of June Colonel Lord Ravvdon, with 
the Volunteers of Ireland and a detachment of cavalry of 
the legion, advanced from Camden into the Waxhaws, 
which he expected to find a friendly as well as prosperous 
settlement. But, disappointed in the disposition of the 
people, after a short stay there he fell back to Camden. 

The scene of the Revolution in South Carolina and 
the actors in it were now alike changed. New men now 
appeared upon the field, — men Avho had not met under 
the Liberty Tree, nor marched in procession with forty- 
five lights in honor of Wilkes ; nor pledged themselves 
in ninety-two glasses for the Massachusetts "non-rescinders, 
around a table Avith twenty-six bowls of punch for the 
members of the Carolina Assembly Avho had supported 
their ^lassachusetts brethren; men who had not attended 
the Convention under the Exchange in 1774; who had 
not been of the Council of Safety; Avho had not counte- 
nanced the tarring and feathering of those not yet pre- 
pared to abandon the King ; men in short who had had 
nothing to do with bringing on the Revolution were now. 
to take up its fallen standard and to restore its sinking 
fortunes. These new leaders, under Rutledge, who him- 
self had so long been unwilling to close the door to recon- 
ciliation with the mother country, now seizing the moment 
of resentment and indignation at the breach of faith and 
atrocities committed by the British, turned the popular 
sentiment of the State against the invadere, organized 
partisan bands, and inaugurated a system of warfare which 
broke up the plans of the enemy, retarded their movements, 
harassed their outposts, surprised and captured their con- 
voys, and often with the most brilliant movements ob- 
tained signal advantages, sometimes achieving no mean 



564 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

victories, and always ^bearing defeat and disaster without 
loss of faith or spirit. y^These men, without Continental or 
State commissions, were the redeemers of the State when 
the regular forces were captured and dispersed. It is not 
too much to say that without the partisan leaders of South 
Carolina and their followers the independence of America 
would never have been achieved. This will we think 
clearly appear as we proceed. Chief among these were 
Sumter, Marion, and Davie. Pickens was later to throw 
off the bond which now restrained him, and to associate 
his name indelibly with theirs ; but in this most critical 
period of their country's struggle these three were the 
men who stepped into the breach and stayed the tide o£v 
oppression whi'ch was rising to overwhelm their people.y\ 
None of these, as we have said, had anything to do with 
bringing on the Revolution, but each had already taken a 
subordinate part in the war. 

Thomas Sumter was born the 14th of July, 1736, in Han- 
over County, Virginia. His father's family were from 
Wales, but had removed to England and thence migrated 
to Virginia. His mother was a Virginian of English stock. 
Sumter had served in the Virginia Provincial Corps in the 
French and Indian Wars, and was present at Braddock's 
defeat in 1755. He had afterward been sent by Governor 
Dinwiddle on a mission to the Cherokees, and had then 
accompanied Occonostota and his chiefs to England on 
their mission in 1762. After this he had settled in 
South Carolina and married Mary Cantey, a member of 
one of the oldest and most prominent families in the 
province. 

In the commencement of the Revolution, Sumter, it 
will be recollected, had been a friend of Moses Kirkland, 
who liad deserted the cause in 1775, and gone to the Brit- 
ish, and in consequence Sumter himself had been looked 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 565 

upon with suspicion and distrust when he sought a com- 
mission from the Council of Safety. Indeed, Drayton and 
Tenneut had thought it necessary to wain the Council to be 
cautious in giving it to him ; he was only taken by the Revo- 
lutionists on probation; Colonel Richardson, with whom he 
went on the Snow expedition as Adjutant General, promis- 
ing " to keep a sli^irp eye on his conduct." It is curious 
that neither Drayton, Tennent, nor Richardson lived to 
know that they had nearly excluded from the service of 
the State one who was in great part to redeem it when all 
the living leaders of the Revolution were in captivity or 
exile. Sumter had, however, received his commission, and 
had afterwards been appointed to the command of the Sixth 
South Carolina Provincial Regiment, in February, 1776, 
and as such had been put upon the Continental establish- 
ment in September of that year. He had been present at 
the eastern end of Sullivan's Island under Colonel Thom- 
son at the battle of Fort Moultrie, but had had no oppor- 
tunity of distinguishing himself in that action. Domestic 
affliction coming upon him, having lost all of his children 
but one, the inactivity of the service at that time in- 
duced him to resign in September, 1777. He had then 
remained in retirement u[)on his plantation until the fall 
of Charlestown, but soon after that event, on the 28th of 
May, 1780, again took the field. He left home a few hours 
befi)re Tarleton, in his pursuit of Buford, reached his plan- 
tation, and escaped into North Carolina, where he joined 
(Governor Rutledge. Tarleton, upon reaching Sumter's 
plantation and finding that he was gone, burnt" his house. 
Fi-om tliat time until the war was practically over Sumter 
devoted himself to the service of his country in its struggle 
for independence. This having been achieved in a great 
measure by him, he was at last forced from the field by 
the intrigues of those whose successful careers were 



)^ 



56Q HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

rendered possible by his exploits, and who came into the 
State to reap the fruits of his service. 
/^Sumter was a man of large frame, well fitted in strength 
of body to the toils of war. " His aspect was manly and 
stern," says Lee, — who, however, it may be observed here 
in passing, united with Greene, as we shall see, to suppress 
him, — "denoting insuperable firmness and lofty courage. 
He was not overscrupulous as a soldier in his use of means, 
and was apt to make considerable allowances for a state of 
war. Believing it warranted by the necessity of the case, 
he did not occupy his mind with critical examination of 
the equity of his measures, or of their bearings on individ- 
uals, but indiscriminately pressed forward to his end — 
the destruction of the enemy and liberation of his country. 
In his military career he resembled Ajax, relying more 
upon the fierceness of his courage than upon the results 
of unrelaxing vigilance and nicely adjusted combination. 
Determined to deserve success, he risked his own life and 
the lives of his associates without reserve — enchanted 
with the splendor of victory, he would wade through tor- 
rents of blood to attain it. He drew about him the hardy 
sons of the upper and middle grounds, brave and deter- 
mined like himself, familiar with difficulty and fearless of 
danger, and traversed the region between Camden and 
Ninety-Six.^ 

The same general character is given him by Garden. 
"No man," says this author, "was more indefatigable in 
his efforts to obtain victory, none more ready for the 
generous exposure of his person and the animating ex- 
ample of intrepidity to deserve it. His attacks were im- 
petuous and generally irresistible. He was far less inclined 
to plan than to execute ; and on many occasions, by an 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 74. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 567 

approach to rashness, accomplished wliat prudence would ^yl 
have forbidden him to attempt." r^ 

Dr. Caldwell describes him as greatly superior to Marion 
in pei"sonal strength. Trusting less, he says, to stratagem 
and skill, he j)laced his fortune much more exclusively on 
ids daring resolution and the execution of his sword. Warm 
in temperament and devoted to his country, whatever could 
contribute to rescue Iier from the invader and establish her 
independence became an object of his ardent affection. He 
was also enamoured of brilliant achievement for its own 
sake. To victory and the glory of achieving it he would 
cut his way through every danger, regardless alike of his 
own blood and that of his enemy. If, from want of due 
precaution or from an exuberance of courage, misfortune 
and defeat sometimes assailed him, they neither broke his 
spirit nor enfeebled his ho^DCS. Unmoved as the firmest 
Roman in the best times of the commonwealth, he never 
despaired of the arms of his country. With an inflexible 
resolution to witness her triumph or not to survive her 
overthrow, he pressed toward his object with direct aim 
and unrelaxing vigor.^ Lord Cornwallis, writing to Tarle- 
ton to give energy to his pursuit, says, " I shall be glad to ^ 
hear that Sumter is in no condition to give us further 
trouble ; he certainly has been our greatest plague in this ,j 
countiy."^ "jp. 

These sketches of Sumter by Garden and Caldwell were 
written after, and bear the impress of, that of Lee ; before 
fully accepting their criticisms upon Sumter's rashness, it 
should, therefore, be observed that Lee was Sumter's rival, 
and, as it will appear hereafter, was jealous of his fame, 
and intrigued with Greene to keep him down. As we 

1 Mevwirs of the Life atid Campaif/ns of the Hon. Xathaniel Greene, 
Major General, etc. (Charles Caldwell, M.D.), HI- 

2 Garden's Anecdotes, 32. 



^; 



~ y- -r 



1^^ 



568 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAllOLINA 

come to study his career more closely by the light of mate- 
rial to which neither Garden nor Caldwell had access, it 
will appear, we think, that if Sumter was at times rash and 
lacked the caution of Marion, he was nevertheless a man of 
larger and broader views, and with a much greater military 
instinct than has been represented; and that, indeed, had 
his strategy prevailed, and not been overruled by Greene, 
it might have been better for the cause, — the British army 
might have been crushed immediately after the evacuatioji 
of Camden by Lord Rawdon in JNIay, 1781, before the acci- 
dental reenforcement which enabled Stewart to hold his 
ground when assailed by Greene at Eutaw the following 
September. 

Francis Marion was of Huguenot descent. He was born 
in St. John's Berkeley,^ in the year 1732, and so Avas 
four years older than Sumter. In 1759 he settled in St. 
John's Parish at a place called Pond Bluff, about four 
miles below Eutaw, the famous battlefield. It was in tliis 
year that the Cherokee War broke out, and Francis Marion 
volunteered in his brother's troop of provincial cavalry. In 
17G1 he served in the expedition under Colonel Grant as 
a lieutenant in Captain William Moultrie's company, form- 
ing a part of a provincial regiment commanded by Colonel 
Middleton.2 General Moultrie said of him in that cam- 
paign that he was an active, brave, and hardy soldier, and 
an excellent partisan officer. He was a member of the 
Provincial Congress of 1775, but does not appear to have 
taken any active part in its deliberatiyjns ; and, as has been 
seen, he was appointed captain in the Second Regiment 
under Moultrie, to the command of which he succeeded. 
He had already seen considerable service. As major of 
the Second Regiment he was in the action of the 28th of 

1 Simms'' Magazine, vol. T. 273. 

- So. Ca. under Roy. Gnv. (McCrady), 350. 



IN THE ItEVCH.UTION 569 

June, 1770. He had been with Moultrie during Prdvo.st's 
invasion in 1779, and was present at the siege of Savannah. 
When Sir Henry Clinton arrived with his invading force, 
Marion was in colnniand of a body of light troops at Shel- 
don, and with these he had joined Moultrie at Bacon's 
Bridge. There he had been relieved by Lieutenant Colonel 
Henderson, and had gone into the town. Before, however, 
the investment had been completed, an accident befell him 
which, n/^ doubt regarded at the time as a great misfortune, 
turned out to be indeed a blessing in disguise to him and 
to his people. Dining one day with a party of Whigs at 
the house of a friend, according to a very general custom 
of the time his entertainer had turned the key upon his 
guests so that none could leave until the festivities were 
over. Marion's sense of duty, however, would not allow 
him to remain, and in attempting to escape from this drink- 
ing party, through a window, he fell to the ground and dis- 
located his ankle in a very serious manner. Being unfit 
for dut}', he was sent out of the town upon a litter to his 
seat in St. John's Parish. This accident saved him from 
captivity with the rest of the garrison of the town. After 
Huger's defeat at Monck's Corner the whole of this part of 
the country was opened to the British, and to escape from 
their foraging and marauding parties Marion was obliged 
to move about from house to house, and often to hide in 
the woods. After the fall of the town, as soon as he was 
able, lie set out for North Carolina to join any force that 
he might find there. On the road he met Major Peter 
Horr}' on a similar mission. Upon arriving at Hillsboro 
they found General Isaac Huger and Colonel White, whose 
regiments had been so badly cut up at Lenuds's Ferry, and 
learned from them that \\'ashiiigton had sent on a detach- 
ment of Continentals wlio were now on the march to aid 
South Carolina. 'I'liere thev met, also, Colonel Senf, the 



570 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

engineer officer who had been in Charlestown, and by him 
were introduced to the Baron De Kalb, who was in com- 
mand of the troops. Marion and Horry were received 
with great courtesy by De Kalb, and were soon appointed 
by him supernumerary aides. As such they accompanied 
the Baron on Gates's advance into South Carolina, and 
were with liim until just before the battle of Camden, when 
Gates, confident of victory, to get rid of them sent them off 
to the Santee to destroy every scow, boat, or canoe that 
could assist an Englishman in his flight to Charlestown.^ 
This was the commencement of Marion's brilliant career. 

" Marion," says Lee, " was about forty-eight years of age, 
small in stature, hard in visage, healthy, abstemious, and 
taciturn. Enthusiastically wedded to the cause of liberty', 
he deeply deplored the condition of his beloved country. 
The commonwealth was his sole object; nothing selfish, 
nothing mercenary, soiled his ermine character. Fertile in 
stratagem, he struck unperceived ; and retiring to those 
hidden retreats selected by liimself in the morasses of the 
Pee Dee and Black rivers, he placed his corps not only out 
of the reach of his foe, but often out of the discovery of 
his friends.^ A rigid disciplinarian, he reduced to practice 

1 Weems's Life of Marion, 120, says Gates sent him to the Santee "on 
the morning before the fatal action." James, p. 40, mentions his arrival 
at Lynch Creek "on the 10th or 12th of August," i.e. four or six days 
before the action. Williams's narrative (Johnson's Life of Greene, Ap- 
pendix B, 45S) speaks of his deijarture from (iates's army as of the 3d, 
thirteen days before the battle. 

2 Lieutenant Colonel Lee tells that, ordered to join Marion after 
Greene determined to turn the yvav back to South Carolina in 1781, an 
officer with a small party preceded him a few days' march to find out 
Marion, who was known to vary his position in the swamps of Pee Dee 
— sometimes in South Carolina, sometimes in North Carolina, and some- 
times on the Black River. With the greatest difficulty did this officer 
learn how to communicate with the brigadier, and tiiat by the accident 
of hearing among our friends on the north side of the Pee Dee of a small 



IN THE REVOLUTION 571 

the justice of his heart; and during the difficult course of 
warfare through whicli he passed calumny itself never 
charged him with violating the rights of person, property, 
or humanity. Never avoiding danger, he never rashly 
sought it; and acting for all around him as he did for 
liimself, he risked the lives of his troops only when it was 
necessary. Neither elated with prosperity, nor depressed 
by adversity, he preserved an equanimity which won the 
admiiation of his friends, and exacted the respect of 
his enemies. The country from Camden to the seacoast 
between the Pee Dee and Santee rivers was the theatre 
of his exertions." ^ 

" Of his preeminent ability as a partisan officer, success- 
fully opposing an active and enterprising enemy with an 
inferiority of force that is scarcely credible," says Garden, 
"there can exist no doubt. He entered the field without 
men — without resources of any kind, and at a period 
when a gieat proportion of the inliabitants of the district 
in which he commanded, either from a conviction of the 
inutility of resistance, or the goading of unceasing persecu- 
tion, had made them submissive to the enemy. To con- 
cealment he was indebted for security — and stratagem 
supplied the place of force. Yet alwaj's on the alert, — 
striking where least expected, retiring where no advan- 
tage could be hoped for by exposure, — he progressively 
advanced in tha career of success till a superiority was 
obtained that put down all opposition. Far more disposed 
essentially to benefit his country than to give, by brilliant 
enterprise, increase to his own reputation, his first care 

provision party of Marion's being on the same side of the river. Making 
himself known to tliis parly, lie was conveyed to the Genei'al, who had 
changed his gronnd since his party left him, which occasioned many 
honiN' search before his own men could find him. Memoifs of the War 
of 1776 (Lee), 174. 

^ Memoirs of the War (f 1776 (Lee), 174. 



572 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was the preservation of the troops whom he commanded 
by strenuously avoiding an unnecessary hazard of their 
lives. It was his prudential conduct that so frequently 
occasioned a temporar}^ retirement into fastnesses where 
pursuit was rarely ventured on, and if persisted in invari- 
ably attended with discomfiture and disgrace. But did 
occasion invite to victory — did carelessness in command, 
or the idea of security arising from distance, put the enemy 
though but for an instant off their guard — the rapidity, 
the impetuosity, of his attacks never failed to render the 
blow inflicted decisive and their destruction complete. 
Victory afforded additional claim to applause. Giving the 
rein to the most intrepid gallantry, and in battle exhibit- 
ing all the fire and impetuosity of youth, there never was 
an enemy who yielded to his valor who had not cause to 
admire and eulogize his subsequent humanity.' The strict- 
ness of the discipline invariably maintained prevented every 
species of irregularity among his troops. His soul was his 
country's — his pride, the rigid observance of her laws — his 
ambition, to defend her rights, and preserve immaculate her 
honor and her fame. It would have been as easy to turn the 
sun from his course as Marion fi'om the path of honor." ^ 

Dr. Caldwell describes Marion as an officer whose stat- 
ure was diminutive and his person uncommonly light, who 
rode when in service one of the fleetest and most powerful 
chargers the South could produce, and whom when in fair 
pursuit nothing could escape, and when retreating nothing 
could overtake.^ 

William Richardson Davie was of Scotch descent, but 
was born in Egremont in Cumberland County in the 
north of England on the 20th of June, 1756. When five 
years of age he had been brought to this country by his 

1 Garden's Anecdotes, 20. 

2 Caldwell, Memoirs of Greene, 107-109. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 573 

father, Arcliibald Davie, and was adopted by his uncle, 
the Rev. William Richardson, the Presbyterian minister 
at the Waxhaws, who resided at Landsford on the Lan- 
caster side of the Catawba. Davie's youth was thus spent 
in this region which was to be the battle-ground of the 
Revolution during the remainder of this year, and which 
his own exploits were in a great measure to render famous. 
He was educated by his uncle and prepared for college at 
an academy in Charlotte, North Carolina, known as the 
"Queen's Museum," and afterward called "Liberty Hall." 
From this he entered Princeton College, where by his 
application and genius he obtained the reputation of an 
excellent student. Bat the din of arms disturbed these 
quiet shades, and Davie exchanged the gown for the 
sword. The studies of the college were closed and Davie 
joined Washington's army in the summer of 1776, and 
served in it as a volunteer during the campaign on Long 
Island. He then returned again to college and was gradu- 
ated in the fall of that year with tlie first honors of the 
institution. After his graduation he pursued the study of 
the law in Salisbury, North Carolina, during the following 
two years of quiet in the South, But when the scene of 
war was changed to this section of the country, he at once 
again entered tlie field. He induced a worthy and influ- 
ential but elderly gentleman by the name of Barnett to. 
raise a troop of horse, and in this troop Barnett was elected 
Captain and Davie Lieutenant. His commission was 
given by Governor Caswell of North Carolina, and was 
dated the 5th of April, 1779. The company proceeded 
immediately to Charlestown ; but the Captain soon after 
returning home on furlough, the command of the troops 
devolved on Lieutenant Davie, and it was at his request 
annexed to Pulaski's legion. 

Davie, as has been seen, was made Brigade iNLijor of 



57-1 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Cavalry and was severely wounded in the battle at Stono 
in June, 1779. He was incapacitated by this wound for 
service for nearly a year, and, returning to Salisbury, com- 
pleted his course of studies and was admitted to the bar. 
But, recovering from his wound, he could not remain out 
of the field while such stirring events were taking place 
in the State in which he had been reared. In the winter 
of 1780 he obtained authority from the General Assembly 
of North Carolina to raise a troop of cavalry and two com- 
panies of mounted infantry. But the authority only was 
granted. North Carolina was unable to furnish or equip 
the legion. This Davie would not allow to be an obstacle 
in the way. His uncle, the Rev. William Richardson, 
had died in 1771, leaving him a considerable estate. 
This, as his biographer observes, with a patriotism worthy 
of eternal record, he disposed of, and with the funds thus 
raised he equipped his troops.^ 

" Davie," says a historian, " was one of the most splen- 
did and knightly figures on the American continent. He 
was then fresh from his law books and only twenty-five years 
of age. Tall, graceful, and strikingly handsome, he had 
those graces of person wliich would have made him the 
favorite in the clanging lists of feudal days. To this he 
added elegant culture, thrilling eloquence, and a gracious- 
ness of manner which was to charm in after days the 
salons of Paris.^ He had won high honor and had been 

1 Wheeler's Hist, of No. Ca., 188; Memoirs of the War of 1776 
(Lee), Appendix, 577. 

2 General Davie was after the Revolution a member of the Convention 
which framed the Constitution of the United States, from North Carolina ; 
Brigadier General, U.S.A. ; Governor of North Carolina ; and in June, 
1799, was appointed with Chief Justice Ellsworth of the Supreme Court, 
U.S., and Mr. Murray, then Minister at The Hague, as ambassadors to 
France. In November, 1799, he sailed on this mission. 

'• In the most polislied court of Europe the dignified person and grace- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 575 

dangerously wounded at Stono on the 20th of June, 1779. 
Since then he had expended the whole of his estate in 
equipping at his own cost the only organized body of 
troops now left to do battle in behalf of the cause he 
loved." 1 

" General Davie," says another, " was not only distin- 
guished as an intelligent, but an intrepid, soldier. His 
delight was to lead a charge ; and possessing great bodily 
strength, is said to have overcome more men in personal 
conflict than any individual in the service." ^ 

" Such was the soldier and the hero who was now in this 
dark and depressing hour of our history about to strike 
the British outposts and restore confidence and hope to 
the people. He was on familiar ground among the scenes 
of his earl}^ childhood and maturer years. He was inspired 
by a fervid ambition to deeds of valor and patriotism, and 
his friends and associates were to be witnesses of his 
achievements. Their hopes of deliverance from the sword 
and the prison or perhaps the gallows were centred on 
him, and with noble daring he entered the lists determined 
with his little band of patriots and soldiers to strike the foe 
before 'the harvest was gathered.' "^ 

" This distinguished leader," says Dr. Caldwell, " al- 
though younger by several years, possessed talents of a 
higlier order and was much more accomplished in educa- 
tion and manners than either of his three competitors for 
fame (Sumter, Marion, or Pickens). For the comeliness of 
his person, his martial air, his excellence in horsemanship, 

fill manners of Governor Davie were conspicuous. ' I could not but 
reniari<,' said an eye-witness, ' that Bonaparte in addressing the Ameri- 
can Legation at liis levees seemed to forget that Governor Davie was 
second in the mission, his attention being more particularly to him.' " 
Wlieeler's Ilht. of So. Ca., 198. 

» Moore's Ilist. of No. Ca., vol. I, 265. 

2 Garden's Anecdotes, 39. » Xo. Ca., 17S0-S1 (Schenck), 65. 



576 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and his consummate power of field eloquence, he had 
scarcely an equal in the armies of his country. So sono- 
rous and powerful was his voice, so distinct his articulation, 
and so commanding his delivery, that the distance at which 
he could be heard was almost incredible. But his cliief 
excellence lay in the magnanimity and generosity of his 
soul, his daring courage, his vigilance and address, and 
his unrelenting activity and endurance of toil. So ardent 
was his attachment to the cause of freedom and so disin- 
terested his efforts to promote it, that in equipping for the 
field his corps of followers he expended his whole patri- 
monial estate." ^ 

General Davie was a Carolinian. He cannot be claimed 
exclusively by either North or South Carolina. He be- 
longed to both. Reared in the Waxhaws in South Caro- 
lina near the North Carolina line, there was the scene of 
all his military exploits. His command was composed 
of Carolinians of both sides of the dividing line between 
the States. His civil and political life was spent in 
North Carolina, and it was that State whose honors he 
bore. Upon his retirement to private life he returned 
to Landsford on the Catawba in South Carolina, where 
he had been reared, and where he had joined Sumter on 
his expedition to Hanging Rock, and there he spent the 
remainder of his days, dispensing an elegant hospitality to 
his friends of the Revolution in both States, who gathered 
there to live over with him the days of their warfare and 
their glory. 

These three men were now in North Carolina, each 
forming a nucleus of a force with which tlie war was to be 
renewed in the Southern States. Davie, as has been seen, 
had an organized corps, the only one formed regularly 
under a commission. Sumter was gathering around him 
1 Caldwell's Life of Greene, 113-114. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 577 

the refugees from liis State and was forming a camp in 
Mecklenburg C'ounty. Marion had joined De Kalb on Deep 
River and was hospitably entertained by the Baron. But 
he and his party were an eyesore to (iates when he took 
command. Colonel Otho Holland Williams, the Adjutant 
General, thus describes them : " Colonel Marion, a gentle- 
man of South Carolina, has been with the army a few days 
attended by a very few followers distinguished by small 
black leather caps and the wretchedness of their attire ; 
their number did not exceed twenty men and boys, some 
white, some black, and all mounted, but most of them 
miserably equipped ; their appearance was in fact so bur- 
lesque that it was with much difficulty the diversion of the 
regular soldiery was restrained by the officers ; and the 
General himself was glad of an opportunity of detaching 
Colonel ]\Iarion at his own instance toward the interior 
of South Carolina to watch the motions of the enemy and 
furnish intelligence. These trifling circumstances," adds 
Colonel Williams, "are remembered in these notes to show 
from what contemptible beginnings a good capacity will 
rise to distinction. The history of the war in South Caro- 
lina will recognize Marion as a brave partisan if only the 
actions of the two last years' campaigns are recorded." ^ 

Davie's corps, though equipped and furnished by him- 
self alone, from his own individual means, was neverthe- 
less a regular organization authorized by the State of 
North Carolina, whose commission he bore ; but the bodies 
gathering around Sumter under Hill, Bratton, Winn, the 
Hamptons, the Taylors, and Lacey, and around Marion 
and tlie Horrys, James, McCottry, Mouzon, Witherspoon, 
Vandeihorst and the Postells, were volunteers onl}', who 
came as the occasion demanded, serving witliout pay, 

* Colonel Otho Holland Williams's narrative, Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. T, 485. 

VOL. ni. — 2 p 



578 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and at their own expense. These men were no merce- 
nary soldiers, but patriotic citizens striking for liberty, 
giving freely of their own substance, and asking for no 
compensation for blood or treasure spent in the cause ; 
shedding their blood and dying for their country, without 
even an enrolment of their names that their descendants 
might glory in their deeds. 

We have a few pages since quoted Ramsay as saying 
that, after the fall of Charlestown, excepting in the ex- 
tremities of the State which border on North Carolina, the 
inhabitants of South Carolina preferred submission to resist- 
ance. It is curious that while Cross Creek oi- Fayetteville 
in North Carolina was looked upon as the place most in- 
tensely loyal to the King, not far from it the people of 
Mecklenburg, on the border of the two States, were the 
most earnest and steadfast Whigs. This is the more re- 
markable, also, as the Scotch-Irish in the northwestern 
part of South Carolina had not taken any considerable 
part in the Revolution. It was in this neighborhood that 
the action was taken in May, 1775, setting up a local gov- 
ernment.^ It was in the same that the first collision was 

1 Without entering into the historical question as to the authenticity 
of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, it is enough here to 
say that there appears in the So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette of June 1.3, 
1775, a preamble and resolves of the Committee of the County, adopted 
on the 31st of May, from which we quote. 

" Whereas by an address presented to his Majesty by both Houses of 
Parliament in February last the American colonies are declared to be in 
a state of actual rebellion, we conceive that all laws and commissions 
confirmed by, or derived from, the authority of king or Parliament are 
annulled and vacated, and the former civil constitutions for the present 
wholly suspended. To provide in some degree for the exigencies of this 
county in the present alarming period, we deem it proper and necessary 
to pass the following resolves." 

Then follows a series of resolves declaring all commissions, civil and 
military, granted by the Crown null and void ; that the Provincial Con- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 679 

now to occur between the Whigs and Tories. The Tories 
in North Carolina had risen precipitately in Februar}^ 1776, 
under Donald McDonald and had met with a crushing de- 
feat at Moore's Creek. A similar defeat was now aofain to 
meet them from the same precipitancy. This time it was 
to be final. 

Upon tlie defeat of Buford, l>rigadier General Rutherford 
of North Carolina ^ had ordered out the militia in mass 
to obstruct the advance of the conquerors ; and on the 3d 
of June nine hundred men were assembled at Charlotte, 
but they weje dismissed when it was learned that the 
British had fallen back to Camden. When Lord Rawdon, 
however, advanced into the Waxhaw country. General 
Rutherford again assembled his militia; on the 12th eight 
hundred men were on the ground, and on the 14tli they 
Avere organized. The cavalry under Davie was formed 
into two troops under Captains Lenimonds and Martin ; 
a corps of light infantry was placed under Colonel William 
L. Davidson, a Continental oflficer,^ and the remainder 

gress of each province under the Continental Congress is invested with 
all legislative and executive powers within their respective provinces, 
suspending all former laws in the province, and providing for an inde- 
pendent government. See Johnson's Traditions, 79. There is, however, 
nothing in the Gazette to indicate that there was any first or previous 
set of resolutions. 

1 General Griffith Rutherford, an Irishman by birth, uncultivated in 
mind or mannerp, but brave, ardent, and patriotic. He commanded the 
North Carolina forces in the expedition against the "Over Hill" Chero- 
kee Indians, joining General Williamson on the 14th of September, 1776, 
at Kllajay, and with him routing and subduing the Indians. Wheeler's 
Ilist. of Xo. Ca.. .38.3-384. 

2 William L. Davidson was at this time Lieutenant Colonel of the 
First North Carolina Continental Ilcgiment, who had been prevented 
from joining his regiment in Charlestown, and was thus saved from cap- 
ture, and like Marion preserved for distinguished services in the field, but 
was to fall before the end of the war. Historical Register (Heitman) ; 
No. Ca., 17S0-S1 (Schenck), 51 ; Wheeler's Hist, of No. Ca., 263. 



580 IILSTUKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

under the command of General Rutherford. Learning 
that a body of Tories was assembling in strong force 
under Colonel Moore at Ramsour's Mill, near where the 
town of Lincolnton now stands, General Rutherford, not 
willing himself to leave the front of the British, ordered 
Colonel Francis Locke and other officers to collect a body 
of militia and disperse it. 

The uprising of the Tories at this time was Avithout 
Lord Cornwallis's consent or approval. A correspondence 
had been kept up with the Loyalists in Nortli Carolina, but 
his lordship had sent messengers to request their friends 
to attend to their harvest, collect provisions, and remain 
quiet till the King's troops were ready to enter the prov- 
ince, which would not be until the end of August or be- 
ginning of September.^ But this prudent and necessary 
admonition was disregarded. One James Moore, whose 
fatlier and family resided about six miles from Ramsour's 
Mill, had joined the British army the preceding winter, 
and leaving the detachment under Cornwallis on the march 
from Charlestown to Camden, arrived at his father's on the 
7th of June, wearing a sword and old tattered suit of regi- 
mentals. He announced himself as Lieutenant Colonel of 
the Regiment of North Carolina Loyalists, commanded by 
Colonel Hamilton, and gave to the people of the neighbor- 
hood the first particular account they had received of the 
siege and capture of Charlestown and the advance of the 
British troops to Camden. Assembling some forty of 
the people on the lOtli of June in the woods on Lidian 
Creek, seven miles from Ramsour's, he gave them Lord 
Cornwallis's message that they should not embody at that 
time, but hold themselves in readiness, and in the meantime 
get in their harvest; and that as soon as the country could 

1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 196. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 581 

furnish subsistence to the army it would advance into Nortli 
Carolina and sup[)ort the Royalists. 

Before the meeting broke up, however, an express arrived 
that Major McDowell of Burke County ^ with twenty men 
was within eight miles of them in search of the principal 
persons of their party. Confident of their strength, not- 
withstanding Lord Cdrnwallis's known wishes in the 
matter, the party determined to attack McDowell at once. 
They did not, however, march until the next morning, when, 
finding that McDowell had retired, they pursued, but not 
being able to overtake him Moore directed them to return 
home and meet him again on the 13th at Ramsour's Mill. 
On that day two hundred men joined Moore, and they were 
joined the next by many others, among whom was Nicholas 
Welch, a major in the regiment commanded by Colonel 
Hamilton. He also had lived in that neighborhood and 
had joined the British army eighteen months before. He 
was directly frftm the armj' of Lord Cornwallis and gave 
information of Colonel Buford's defeat. Wearing a rich 
suit of regimentals and exhibiting a number of guineas, he 
souglit to allure some, while he endeavored to intimidate 
others, by his account of the success of the British army in 
all the operations of the South, and the inability of the 
Whigs to make furtlier oi)position. The party remained 
in camp until the 20tli, during whicli time a detachment 
commanded l>y Moore made an unsuccessful attempt to 
capture Colonel Hugh Brevard and Major Joseph Mc- 
Dowell, each of whom liad come into the neighborhood 

' Major Joseph McDowell. He had served in his brother's regiment 
in the expedition .liiainst the Over Hill or Cherokee Indians in 177G niider 
Kntherford and Williamson, and was at Stono in 1770. He was famil- 
iarly known jis " Qnaker Meadow Joe," to distinguish him from his 
equally distinguished cousin of the same name, who was likewise known 
as "Pleasant Gordon Joe." Wheeler's Hist, of No. Ca., 59; King's 
Muuntain and Jtn Heroes (Draper), 472. 



582 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

with a number of Whigs to break up the assembling 
Tories. 

By the 20th nearly thirteen hundred Tories had assembled 
at Ramsour's, one fourth of whom were without arms. 
General Rutherford, as soon as he learned that Lord Raw- 
don had retired to Camden, resolved to concentrate his 
force and attack tliis party of Tories. He accordingly 
marched on the 18th from his camp south of Charlotte, 
and in the evening sent a dispatch to Colonel Locke, 
advising him of his movement and of the enemy's 
strength, and ordering Locke to join him on the 19th 
in the evening or on the 20th in the morning at the 
Tuckaseege Ford on the Catawba. General Rutherford's 
express did not reach Colonel Locke, and that officer, pro- 
ceeding under his orders of the 14th, collected as many 
men as he could, so that by Monday, the 19th, he encamped 
on Mountain Creek, sixteen miles from Ramsour's, with a 
force amounting to about four hundred men. Here the 
officers met in council, and were unanimous in opinion 
that it would be unsafe to remain in that position, as the 
Tories were in greatly superior force within a few hours' 
march. It was at first proposed to recross the Catawba 
and wait reenforcements; but it was objected that a retro- 
grade movement would embolden the Tories, whose num- 
bers were increasing as fast as their own. Then it was 
proposed to march directly down the river and join Gen- 
eral Rutherford, about thirty-five miles distant. Again 
it was objected that this movement would leave the fami- 
lies of many who were with General Rutherford exposed 
to tlie Tories, and it was insinuated that these propositions 
proceeded, if not from fear, at least from an unwillingness, 
so to meet the Tories; these taunts overcame all j)rudent 
counsels, and it was unanimously resolved to march at 
daybreak to the attack. An officer was sent to apprise 



IN THE REVOLUTION 583 

General Rutherford of tliis determination, and late in the 
oveninsf the march was commenced from Mountain Creek. 
Passing down the south side of the mountain, the party 
lialted at the west end of it for an hour in the night, where 
the oOicers met to determine the phin of attack. The 
only arrangements made for it, however, were that the 
companies commanded by Captains Falls, McDowell, and 
Brandon sliould act on horseback and march in front ; all 
else was left to the oflicers to be governed by circum- 
stances after they should come up with the enemy. The 
march was resumed, and the party arrived within a mile 
of tlie enemy's camp at daylight. 

The Tories were encamped on a hill three hundred 
yards east of Ramsoui's Mill and a half mile north of the 
present town of Lincolnton. They occupied an excellent 
position on the summit of a ridge, stretching nearly to the 
east on the south side of the millpond. The road leading 
to the Tuckaseege Ford by the mill crosses the point of 
the ridge in a northwestern direction. The ridge had a 
very gentle slope, and was then interspersed with only a 
few trees, giving the Tories a fire with full effect in front 
for more than two hundred yards. Their picket guard, 
twelve in number, were stationed in the road six hundred 
yards from the encampment, but when the horsemen, 
under Captains Falls, McDowell, and Brandon, came 
within sight, it was evident that their approach had not 
been anticipated. 

The pickets fired and fled to their camp, and then en- 
sued a desultory and confused engagement which can 
scarce be dignified iis a battle, as there was little organiza- 
tion on either side and scarcely a plan of operation. It 
was an affair in which neighbors and personal friends 
fouirht, and, as the smoke from time to time would blow 
off, they would recognize each other. In some places the 



584 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Tories were crowded together in each other's way, and in 
others there were none. The gaps were, however, filled 
by those coming up from the rear, and the line of battle 
was gradually extended. The action became general and 
obstinate on both sides. The Tories, at length finding the 
left of their position in possession of the Whigs and their 
centre closely pressed, retreated down the ridge toward 
the pond. The Whigs pursued until they got entire 
possession of the ridge, when they discovered to their 
astonishment that the Tories had collected a force on the 
other side of the creek beyond the mill. Expecting the 
fight to be renewed, the Whigs attempted to form a new 
line, but only eighty-six men could be found to do so. 
Some had been scattered during the action, and others 
were attending to their wounded friends. After repeated 
efforts not more than one hundred and ten men could be 
collected. 

In this situation messengers were sent to General Ruther- 
ford to urge him to press forward to their assistance. 
Rutherford had marched early in the morning, and at a 
distance of six or seven miles from Ramsour's was met by 
the officers who had gone to hasten his advance. Major 
Davie's cavalry was started at a gallop, and Colonel David- 
son's infantr)'- was ordered to hasten on with all possible 
speed. At the end of two miles they were met by others 
from the battle, who informed them that the Tories had 
retreated. Rutherford's troops arrived on the ground two 
hours after the battle had closed. The dead and most of 
the wounded were still lying where they fell. 

The Tories, not aware of the disorder in the Whig ranks 
and considering themselves completely beaten, to cover 
their retreat, about the time the Whigs were sending to 
hasten General Rutherford's march, sent a flag proposing 
a suspension of hostilities to care for the wounded and to 



IN TIIK DEVOLUTION 585 

bury tlic dead. To prevent the flag officer from perceiv- 
ing their small nnmbei-, Major James Rutherford and 
another oflleer were sent to meet him a short distance 
from the line. The pro[)osition being made, Major Ruther- 
ford demanded that the Tories should surrender in ten 
minutes, and that then arrangements should be made as 
to the dead and wounded. In the meantime Moore and 
Welcli gave orders that such of their men as were on foot 
or had inferior horses should move off singly as fast as 
they could. This was done, so that when the flag returned 
not more than fifty remained and they immediately fled, 
Moore with thiity men reached the Britisli army at Cam- 
den, where he was threatened to be brought before a court- 
martial for disobedience of orders in attempting to embody 
the Royalists before the time appointed by the commander- 
in-chief, but it was deemed impolitic to press the matter 
further. 

As there was no organization of either party, nor regular 
returns made after the action, says General Joseph Gra- 
ham of North Carolina, from whose narrative this account 
of the battle has been taken, the loss coidd not be ascer- 
tained with correctness. Fifty -six lay dead on the side of 
the ridge where the heat of the action prevailed. Many 
lay scattered on the flanks and over the ridge toward the 
mill. It is believed that seventy were killed and that the 
loss was on each side equal. About one hundred men on 
each side were wounded and fifty Tories were taken pris- 
oners. As there was no distiufjuishing: uniform it could 
not be told to which party many of the dead belonged. 
Most of the Whigs wore a piece of white paper on their 
hats in front, and as many of the men on each side were 
excellent riflemen, this paper was a mark at which the 
Tories often fired and several of the Whigs were shot in 
the head. 



586 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

In this battle neighbors, near relations, and personal 
friends fought, and as the smoke from time to time would 
blow off they would recognize each other. In the evening 
and on the next day the relatives and friends of the dead 
and wounded came in, and a scene was witnessed truly 
afflicting to the feelings of humanity.^ 

The effect of this affair was completely to crush out the 
Tory element in that portion of the State, and they never 
attempted to organize again during the war. The men 
who assembled at Ramsour's Mill to resume their allegiance 
to the British government Avere not marauders in search 
of plunder, nor violent men seeking revenge for injuries 
inflicted in border warfare ; they were nearly all simple- 
minded, artless Germans, industrious, frugal, and honest 
citizens, who had never been in arms before nor suffered 
persecutions from the Whigs. They believed the represen- 
tative of the army of Cornwallis, who informed them that 
the Roj'al authority had been reestablished in the South, 
and they were confirmed in this by the accounts of the 
absolute subjection of South Carolina and Georgia and the 
example of leading citizens of those states who had " taken 
British protection." They came to renew their citizenship 
and allegiance as they thought duty and conscience re- 
quired. Happy had it been for South Carolina had the 
Tories on her borders been so easily put down. But such 
was not the case. Her soil was to be drenched to a much 
greater degree in fratricidal blood. 

1 Graham's Narrative, No. Ca., 17S0-S1 (Schenck), 51-62. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

1780 

That there Avere great differences of sentiment in re- 
gard to the Revolution even among the people of the Low- 
Country of South Carolina has abundantly appeared in the 
pages of this histor}'. Friends and families were divided 
in opinion as to its cause, and still more so in regard to 
the course of events which had followed resultinof in the 
Declaration of Independence. But these differences in 
the Low Country had caused little bloodshed by native 
Carolinians at the hands of each other. Few of the Tories 
in this section took up arms against their fellow-country- 
men. In the new field of war, alas! as at Ramsour's Mill, 
the people who had not been interested in the questions 
wliich brought on the trouble were to fight every one 
against his brotlier, and every one against his neighbor. 
The most dreadful internecine strife was now to rage 
throughout the country beyond the falls of the rivers. The 
Scotchmen in Charlestown — especially the Scotch mer- 
chants, had almost unanimously opposed the Revolution ; 
and so had the man}-- Scotch traders in the Piedmont 
region. The Scotchmen in Charlestown, however, con- 
tented themselves with passive resistance to the Revolu- 
tionary party until the fall of the town, and then did little 
more than congratulate Sir Henry Clinton upon his vic- 
tory over their rebellious fellow-townsmen ; but in the 
Up Country they rose witli the advance of the Britisli and 
with heroism and determination took part in the war. 

587 



588 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

It would be well if the historian was bound to add noth- 
ing more in regard to their conduct; but truth requires 
the statement that the lieroism of these people in main- 
taining their loyalty to their King Avas tarnished by deeds 
of cruelty and bloodthirstiness. It will indeed appear, as 
we follow the fortunes of the war in their section, that 
South Carolina experienced all the dire effects which from 
civil discords fiow.^ 

Before Tarleton had overtaken Buford the Tories in 
this section had begun to gather and organize. As early 
as the 26th of May — that is, three days before the massacre 
in the Waxhaws, a party of them had collected at Mob- 
ley's Meeting-house, about six miles west of Winnsboro 
in the present county of Fairfield ; to meet this Colonel 
William Bratton of York and Captain John McClure of 
Chester gathered the Whigs and defeated and dispersed 
them. A similar uprising at Beckham's Old Field in the 
vicinity of Fishing Creek, in what is now Chester Count}-, 
had been put down with equal ease, the Rev. John 
Simpson, then the Presbyteiian minister of the congrega- 
tion in that neighborhood, being one of the principal 
movers in the affair. We have no account of the casual- 
ties on either side of these affairs. 

But thouofh Colonel Bratton took so decided and active 
a part in dispersing the Tories at Mobley's Meeting-house 
before Buford's defeat, he appears to have hesitated after 
that event to advise the people to further resistance. Colo- 
nel William Hill, who shall hereafter frequently appear as 
a gallant officer under Sumter, in a narrative of the cam- 
paign in 1780 2 giving an account of the condition of affairs 
in the New Acquisition, as the present County of York was 
then known, states that Bratton and Watson, the two mili- 

1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 537. 

2 Sumter MSS., vol. I. 



IN' THE UEVOLUTIOX 589 

till colonels in that district, called a meeting- at Bullock's 
Creek Meeting-house to which they gave their opinion that 
any further opposition to the British would avail nothing, 
and declared that they could have nothing more to say to 
them as oilicers, and advised that each one must do the 
best he cculd for himself. Colonel Bratton, however, him- 
self, went to Sumter's camp and soon was actually engaged. 
A commission was sent from the meetingf at Bullock's 
Cieek to Lord Rawdon, wlio was then across the Catawba, 
in the Waxhaws ; and the meeting adjourned to Hill's 
Iron Works on Allison Creek, not far from the Catawba, to 
receive the report. There the person sent returned and 
exhibited his commission under Lord Rawdon's seal, em- 
powering him to take submissions and to give paroles and 
protections to all that chose to become British subjects. ^ 
The commissioner proceeded to read a proclamation of 
his lordsliip's asserting that Congress had given up the 
two Southern States and would not contend further for 
them ; that General Washington's army was reduced to a 
small number of men, with which he had fled to the moun- 
tains. At this point Colonel Hill interrupted the commis- 
sioner, took the stand, and addressed the people. He told 
them that he was happy to have it in his power to inform 
them that both statements of the proclamation were false, 
and made only to deceive and intimidate the people ; that, 
so far from these statements being true, Congress had come 
to a resolution not to give np any of the States, and that 
General Washington was in fact in a more prosperous way 
than he had been for some timd ; so much so that he had 
sent an oflicer with a considerable army, which was then on 
the march to the relief of the Southern .States. He re- 
minded them that they had all taken an oath to defend 

1 Who this person wiis is not mentioned, nor have we been able to 
ascertain. 



590 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and maintain the independence of tlie State to the utmost 
of their power ; that if they could not raise a force to meet 
the foe they had one open side and could keep together 
and go into North Carolina, meet their friends there, and 
return with them to their State. This address produced a 
reaction ; there was a visible animation in the countenances 
of the citizens, says Hill, then despondency was dispelled, 
and Rawdon's commissioner disappeared with his procla- 
mation and protections, fearing the resentment of the people. 

The meeting then proceeded to organize a force, and, 
upon a ballot, Colonel Hill and a young man by the name 
of Andrew Neel were chosen Colonels. A camp was 
formed, and the American standard raised. Around this 
little band men from Georgia as well as South Carolina 
gathered, and in a short time quite a respectable body was 
formed. 

Colonel Neel had formerly commanded the militia be- 
tween the Enoree and Tyger rivers, in what is now Spar- 
tanburg County, and had been compelled to fly from the 
neighborhood, which was strongly loyal to the King; and 
after Sir Henry Clinton's proclamation requiring active 
service of the militia in the Royal cause, his command was 
given to our old acquaintance Matthew Flojal.^ Colonel 
Floyd was at this time recruiting in the western part of 
York for the garrison at Rocky Mount. Neel, who now 
had a force with which to act, determined to put a stop to 
this. Taking with him all the men but about twelve or 
fifteen, left to keep the camp, he started in pursuit of 
Floyd, but was too late. Floyd with his recruits had 
escaped him. 

On learning of the affair at Fishing Creek, Lieutenant 
Colonel Turnbull, wlio was in command of the post at 

1 Life of Greene, Johnson, vol. I, 292 ; Steadman's Ilist. Am. War, 
vol. II, 200. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 591 

Rocky Mount, sent out Captain Huck with a detachment 
of thirty-five dragoons of the legion, twenty mounted in- 
fantry of the New York Volunteers, and about sixty Tory 
militia to investigate.^ This Captain Christian Huck, who 
in a short career was to become notorious for his cruelties 
and violence, was an American — a lawyer of Philadel- 
phia — wlio had gone to tlie British at New York and 
joined Tarleton when he was ordered to the South.^ 

The Rev. John Simpson, a Presbyterian minister of 
Irish descent, a native of New Jersey, had, some years 
before, succeeded the Rev. William Richardson in charge 
of the congregations of Upper and Lower Fishing Creek. 
He was an ardent \Vhig, and was regarded as the head of 
the party who had broken up the assemblies of the Tories 
both at Beckham's Old Field and at Mobley's Meeting- 
house. On Sunday morning, June 11, Huck and his 
party took their way to the church, where they expected. 
to thid the pastor with his assembled congregation, deter- 
mined, as was believed at the time, to burn both the church 
and the people by way of wai-ning to other " disturbers of 
the King's peace." The pastor had fortunately escaped. 
The Friday before he had shouldered his rifle and taken 
the field, joining Captain John McClure, one of tlie young 
men of his congregation, who was then with Sumter 
across the State line. On their way to the church the 
British killed, with circumstances of great atrocity, \Vill- 
iam Strong, an inoffensive and pious young man, who 
was, at the time of their assault upon him, reading his 
Bible. i\Irs. Simpson, tlie wife of the pastor, while sit- 
ting at her breakfast table, heard the report of the gun 
which killed young Strong and announced the approach 
of the enemy. The church was but a short distance from 
the dwelling-house of the minister. Huck's party went 

* Tarloton's Campai'jus, 0.3. - Am. Loyalitits (Sabine), 371. 



592 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

first to the house. Mrs. Simpson, seeing their approach, 
fled with her four children and concealed herself in an 
orchard. Huck's party rifled tlie house of everything valu- 
able, destroyed the bedding, and, after taking all the cloth- 
ing and other articles they fancied, set fire to the house, 
which was soon burned to the ground, together with a 
valuable library of books and important manuscripts which 
were in Mr. Simpson's study,^ 

Hufik then advanced to Hill's Iron Works, where the 
meeting told of above had taken place. These works 
were of great importance to the Whigs, for in them Colonel 
Hill was casting cannon and ordnance for their use, and 
they were also the only dependence of the farmers for 
forty or fifty miles around for the manufacture of their 
agricultural implements. Huck destroyed everything he 
could not carry away. He burned the foige, furnace, 
grist and saw mills, together with all the buildings, even 
the negro huts, and carried off with him about ninety ne- 
groes.2 From the iron works he retired to White's Mills 
on Fishing Creek in what is now Chester County, about 
six miles below the York County line. Here he remained, 
desolating the country around and committing many out- 
rages on inoffensive inhabitants. 

In the meanwhile, Sumter having obtained from the 
authorities in North Carolina the wagons, horses, and 
provisions taken from the Tories at Ramsour's Mill, had 
moved into South Carolina and established a camp on 
Clem's Creek in what is now Lancaster County, just below 
the North Carolina line.^ Here he was joined by detach- 
ments of the Whigs, — volunteers under Colonels Hill and 
Neel from York, Richard Hampton from the Tyger River, 

1 Howe's Hint, rrrshi/teridn Clinrch, 511. 

2 Sumter MSS., vol. 1, Hill's Narrative. 
8 Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 693 

Spartanburg, Captain Samuel Hammond, Colonel Elijah 
Clarke of Georgia, and others who had passed by different 
routes through the upper part of the State, eluding the 
British outposts.^ 

Soon after the establishment of their camp. Colonels Hill 
and Neel with 138 men recrossed the Catawba into York 
to reenforce their party as well with men as with provi- 
sions. Hill was now confirmed in the rumor of the de- 
struction of his iron works and learned that Huck had 
sometime before summoned tlie men of the neighborhood 
to meet him, stating that "he would put them in the King's 
peace," that he had harangued those who had obeyed his 
summons on the certainty of his Majesty's reducing the 
colonies to obedience, and had used on the occasion the 
most blaspliemous language, saying that God Almighty 
had become a rebel, but that if there were twenty gods 
on that side they would all be conquered. This foolish 
as well as impious language made a deep impression on 
the people to whom it was addressed, offending alike their 
religious and patriotic sentiments, and encouraging them 
in a belief that they would be made instruments in the 
liands of the Almighty to punish this wickedness and 
blasphemy.'^ 

Besides Bratton, McClure, Hill, and Neel, another patriot 
now aj)peared who was to render singular service in the 
l)aitisan warfaiC now inaugurated. Edward Lacey the 
father and Edward Lacey the son, of English descent, had 
removed from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. Edward 
Lacey tlie son had run away from his father in 1755, 
when but thirteen years of age, and joined Braddock in 
his unfortunate ex[)edition, serving as a packhorse rider 
and driver. He again left his father at sixteen years of 

1 Sumter MSS., Hill's Narrative ; Johnson's TraditioJis, 341. 

2 Sumter MSS., HiU's Narrative. 

VOL. III. — li y 



594 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

age, and emigrated to this section of South Carolina with 
the Adairs. In 1775 he liad been elected Captain of a 
volunteer company; in 177G served under Williamson in 
his Cherokee expedition, and in Plowe's Florida campaign ; 
and when the Declaration of Independence Avas received, 
by Williamson's appointment he had read it to the troops. 
" Thank God," he had exclaimed, as he finished its read- 
ing, " we can now act on the offensive as well as the de- 
fensive." His father, who had followed him to South 
Carolina just before the commencement of the Revolution, 
was on the contrary an uncompromising Tory. 

Colonel Turnbull had ordered Huck with the cavalry 
under his command to proceed to the frontier of the 
province, collecting all the royal militia on his march, 
and with these forces "to push the rebels." Huck had 
commenced his advance, and on his wa}^ stopped at Mrs. 
McClure's plantation, where they plundered and destroyed 
everything. Mrs. McClure's son James and her son-in- 
law Edward Martin were cq,ught in the act of melting 
down their mother's pewter dishes and moulding bullets 
with the metal. They were made prisoners and ordered 
to be hung the next day. Mrs. McClure herself was struck 
by Huck with the flat of the sword. Her daughter Mary 
had fortunately succeeded in evading the British soon 
after their arrival, and rode to Sumter's camp, where she 
informed her brothers, John and Hugh, of what the British 
were doing and of their number. Colonel William Bratton 
and Captain John McClure set out that evening with 150 
volunteers, and after a ride of thirty miles reached the 
neighborhood. - In the meanwhile Lacey had also beat up 
the country for volunteers, and Hill and Neel, hearing of 
the intended attack upon Huck's corps, joined their forces, 
so that the patriots now had more than 500 men, with whom 
they determined to drive Huck out of the settlement. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 595 

Tlieir plan was to steal a march by night upon the 
Royalists, who were supposed to have leturned to White's 
Mills. The whole party accordingly assembled at sun- 
down on July 11 in the neighborhood, and, forming them- 
selves into parties, marched toward the Mills in perfect 
order. Before reaching the Mills, however, Captain Mc- 
C'lure, who had preceded to reconnoitre, ascertained that 
Huck had on the same day, the 11th of July, advanced his 
whole body to Bratton's plantation, which was situated in 
the present county of York, about six miles above the 
Chester line, a distance of about twelve miles from White's 
Mills. The leaders and men in these parties were all alike 
volunteers, without commissions or authority. To decide, 
therefore, upon any movement consultations were neces- 
sary, and in these consultations all appear to have taken 
part. It being decided b}'' a vote to advance, some mis- 
take in orders occurring caused confusion and excitement, 
whereupon 150 men mounted their hoi^ses, and never 
stopped till they reached Charlotte, North Carolina, a 
distance of forty miles. A second consultation was then 
held, and it being put to a vote it was unanimously re- 
solved to pursue Uuck witli those who remained, now 
about 350, and surprise him before day. On their way 
they were warned by old Mr. William Adair, Avith whom 
Lacey had come to the State, that Huck had near one 
thousand BritiL'h soldiei-s with him, who had taken every 
eatable on his plantation, and left him "-not meal enough 
to make himself a hoe-cake." Lacej^ only replied to his 
old friend that they would make the British pay for all 
before sunrise. Two of Adair's sons, William and John, 
were with Lacey at the time. A most interesting incident 
now took place, strongly illustrating the divided sentiments 
of the community. On the way the Whigs were obliged to 
pass the farm where lived Edward Lacey, the father and 



596 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Tory. The son knew his father to be as determined as 
himself, and to be as devoted to the King as he was to the 
cause of independence, and he did not hesitate as to his 
course. He detailed four men to guard his father all night, 
and to tie him if necessary in order to prevent his going to 
the enemy and giving them notice of the attack. But old 
Lacey was as alive to the situation as his son. By some 
artifice he eluded the guard and started for Huck's camp, 
only two miles from his residence ; fortunately, before he 
had gone two hundred yards he was overtaken, brought 
back, and actually tied in his bed till the next morning. 

Huck, having arrived with his whole party during the 
day of the 11th, rudely entered Colonel Bratton's house 
and ordered Mrs. Bratton to provide a repast for him- 
self and his troopers ; he demanded also that she should 
inform him where her husband was. " In Sumter's army," 
promptly replied the heroic woman. Huck, finding threats 
unavailing, then attempted to conciliate her, and proposed 
that if she would get her husband to come in and join the 
Royalists, he should have a commission in the Royal ser- 
vice. Mrs. Bratton replied, with continued firmness, that 
she would rather, if necessary, that he should die in the de- 
fence of his State. Upon this reply one of Huck's troopers 
attempted to take her life with a reaping-hook which was 
hanging near. He was, however, prevented, not by Huck, 
but by another officer. 

Approaching to near where they supposed the British 
encamped, the Whigs dismounted, tied their horses, ami 
again counted their men. Ninety had fallen off since 
they left the Mills. Although they now had not more 
than two liundred and sixty men left, they still deter- 
mined to attack the Royalists before daylight. But the 
British had again moved. They had left Bratton's and 
encamped at Williamson's plantation, on a creek about a 



IN THE REVOLUTION 597 

quarter of a mile farther off. The Whigs halted in a 
thicket to rest ; but Bratton did not avail himself of this 
indulgence. The British campfires were within sight of 
his own house, the residence of his family. He first pushed 
on to ascertain its safet}', — the British had fortunately 
postponed its destruction until the next day, — and then 
turned to reconnoitre Huck's encampment, to ascertain 
where the sentinels were stationed and where the horses 
were picketed. In doing this he passed through their 
line of sentinels. A consultation was had, and it was 
agreed that the men should be divided into two parties: 
one party to be led by Colonels Bratton and Neel, and 
the other by Colonel Lacey, the parties to approach from 
different directions. Huck had sentinels placed along tiie 
road in front of the house, while the soldiers not on duty 
were asleep in their tents, and one officer in the house. 
Huck, it is evident, had not considered himself in any 
danger. His men were very carelessly posted ; no pickets 
were advanced, and no patrols sent out.^ 

The Whigs moved to the attack just as the morning 
of the 12th began to dawn ; they approached the enemy 
in silence, cut off the troopers from their picketed horses, 
and opened fire about seventy-five paces from where the 
British were lying. The fence on the lane gave the 
Whigs some little protection against the enem3-'s mus- 
ketry, and afforded them a good rest for their rifles, with 
which they took unerring and deadly aim. Three times 
the British charged with their bayonets, but were forced 
to fall back fiom tlje galling and destructive fire of the 
American rifles. Huck appears at first to have consid- 
ered the affair so small that he did not get up out of 
bed ; but at last, aroused to his danger, he hurriedly arose 
and, without his coat, mounted a horse, and while trying 
* Tarleton's Campaigns, 93. 



598 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAIIOLIXA 

to rally his men was shot and fell dead. Upon his fall 
the word, " Boj'S, take the fence and every man his own 
commander," was passed along the Whig ranks, and no 
sooner said than done ; the Whigs leaped the fence and 
rushed upon the enemy, who, after a futile resistance, 
threw down their arms and fled in great confusion. A 
few on liieir knees begged for quarter. And this was 
allowed, notwithstanding Tarleton's precedent at the 
Waxhaws, except to one Ferguson, a Tory, who, it was 
believed, had commanded the squad that killed young 
Strong a short time before. The Whigs mounted their 
horses and pursued the flj'ing Royalists for thirteen or 
fourteen miles, wreaking their vengeance and retaliating 
heavily for the cruelties and atrocities which had been 
committed. The battle had lasted about one hour; the 
Whigs had one man killed, the British between thirty 
and forty, and about fifty wounded. In the rout and 
pursuit of the British, Colonel Bratton's house became 
the scene of action, and when the family came out from 
their hiding-place, the dead and wounded were lying 
around it and in the lower rooms. To these suffering 
enemies Mrs. Bratton paid the kindest and most assidu- 
ous attentions, feeding and nursing them, and supplying 
their wants to the best of her ability. The officer who 
had saved her life in the morning, having been taken 
prisoner, requested to be brought to her, confident of her 
gratitude; and he was not disappointed — he was pro- 
tected from injury and hospitably entertained. This 
noble-minded lady, says the authoi' from whom this 
account is taken, an example of female patriotism and 
heroism in South Carolina, in the hour of danger risked 
her own life and all that was dear to her on earth 
rather than ask her husband to desert his country or 
shrink from his duty. In the hour of victory she 



IN THE REVOLUTION 599 

remembered mercy, and interposed to save and comfort 
the unfortunate among her foes.^ 

One of the happiest results of the victory was the release 
of James McClure and Edward Martin, who during the 
action had been conlined — tied in an outhouse, a corncrib, 
awaiting their execution the next morning. But one of 
the Whigs was killed — his name was Campbell. Huck 
was killed by one of two brothers, John or Thomas Camp- 
bell, who both were foremost in the action. It is uncertain 
which lired the fatal and decisive shot. The fight was 
made by the patriots of this immediate neighborhood. 
Besides the Brattons, of whom there were three brothers, 
there were two brothers named Ross, two named Hanna, 
and two Adair, one of whom became afterwards distin- 
guished ; three named Gill and three Rainey, also four 
sons of John Moore and five sons of James Williamson, 
around whose house the battle was fought. The people 
of this neighborhood generally were, however, probably 
not more united in sentiment than elsewhere in the State. 
There were Tory families upon whom the victors billeted 
about fifty wounded of tlieir enemies. These were attended 
by a physician who resided in the neighborhood. Many 
others of the wounded Tories escaped into the woods, and 
were afterward found dead.^ 

The battle at Williamson has been but little noticed by 
historians ; but it was one of the turning-points in the 
Revolution. The affairs at Mobley's Meeting-house and 
Beckham's Old Field had indeed been uprisings of the 
people; but in them tlie Whigs had onl}' been opposed 
to their own neighbors, like themselves unorganized and 
unarmed, and no blood, as far as we know, had been shed. 
Nor at Ramsour's ]\lill, where unfortunately there had been 

1 Jolin.S(ni'.s Traditions. ^^0. 

2 Life of General Edicard Lacey, 10. 



600 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

great slaughter by kinsfolk, friends, and acquaintances, had 
there been any regularly organized forces. But in this 
battle British regulars, though few in number, had been 
routed and dispersed. It is true that lluck was not a 
British regular officer, nor a professional soldier, but an 
American loyalist. Still he wore the red coat of the Brit- 
ish army and bore his Majesty's commission in the British 
legion, which in three months' service in South Carolina 
had already made itself famous and equally dreaded and 
hated by the people among whom their atrocities had been 
committed. That any of the merciless sabreurs of Monck's 
Corner, Lenuds's Ferry, and Waxhaws could themselves be 
surprised and cut to pieces alike aroused the courage and 
vengeance of those who had witnessed the sufferings of the 
cruel massacre of Huger's and Buford's men. But more 
than this, it committed these people to the cause of inde- 
pendence. There was now no longer time for consider- 
ation and discussion. They must take the field — if only 
for their own safety. It had the immediate effect, it 
was said, of adding six hundred men to Sumter's camp 
at Clem's Creek within a few da3-s after the battle.^ 
Among these was Lacey with a body he had collected. ^ 

Captain Thomas Young, a soldier who took an active 
part in the bloody scenes which were now to follow, who 
was still living in 1847, relates in his memoirs two affairs 
which must have happened about this time, but of the 
exact dates of which there is uncertainty. 

Colonel Thomas Brandon was encamped about five miles 
from the present town of Union, collecting forces for the 
approaching campaign and keeping a check upon the 
Tories. They had taken one Adam Steedham, a Tory, who, 
managing to escape, notified the Tories of Brandon's posi- 

1 Johnson's Traditions, 309. 

2 Life of General Edward Lacey, 11. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 601 

tioii. Brandon was attacked by a large body of the enemy 
before day and completely routed. Captain Young lost a 
brother in this affair whom he vowed to avenge, and declares 
that he did so. Upon this he says he joined Brandon's 
party, and his first engagement was at a place known as 
Stallions,' in what is now York County. 

Brandon, learning that a party of Tories were stationed 
at Stallions, took a detachment of about fifty Whigs to 
attack them. Before arriving at the house, which was 
fortified, Brandon divided his force into two parties. A 
Captain Love with a party of sixteen, of which the narrator 
was one, attacked the front, while Colonel Brandon with 
the remainder made a circuit to intercept those who should 
attempt to escape and to assail the rear. Mrs. Stallions was 
a sister of Captain Love, and on the approach of her brother 
she ran out and begged him not to fire upon the house. 
Running back to the house, as she sprang upon the door- 
step, she fell, pierced by a ball shot at random through the 
opposite door. The Tories, attacked in front and rear, kept 
up for some time a fire upon their assailants. It was not 
long, however, before they raised a flag and surrendered. 
The loss of the Tories was two killed, four wounded, and 
twenty-eight prisoners. The prisoners were sent to Char- 
lotte, North Carolina. The victory was gained at bitter 
loss to Love, who mingled his own tears with those of his 
Tory brother-in law.'-^ 

It will be recollected that while the main body of the 
Britisli army had proceeded to Camden, two other divisions 
after leaving Charlestown had separated at Dorchester, 
one under Lieutenant Colonel Browne moving up the 
Savannah River to Augusta, and the other under Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Balfour passing along the western bank of 

' Probably StallinRs. See Georgia Scenes (A. B. Longstreet). 
' Johnson's Traditions, 446-448. 



602 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

the Congaree to Ninety-Six. It is time now to recur to 
the movements of these parties under Browne and Balfour 
between the Broad and the Savannah. 

When Lord Cornwallis crossed the Santee at Lenuds's 
Ferry he detached Colonel Ferguson with his corps of 
American volunteers, 100 to 200 men, to join Colonel 
Balfour at Ninety-Six, where he arrived on the 22d of 
June. Colonel Ferguson and his friend Major Hanger 
seem to have had a special commission from Sir Henry 
Clinton, independently of Colonel Balfour. Colonel Fer- 
guson was a remarkable man. A Scotchman of excel- 
lent birth, the son of Lord Pitfour, at fifteen years of 
age he had entered the army as a Cornet of Dragoons 
and had served Avith distinction in the wars in Flanders 
and Germany. Then, transferred to the Seventieth Regi- 
ment of Foot stationed in the Caribbee Islands, he had 
performed important service in quieting an insurrection 
of the Caribs on the island of St. Vincent. When the 
disputes between the mother country and her colonies 
were verging toward hostilities, tlie boasted skill of the 
Americans in the use of the rifle was regarded as an object 
of terror to the British troops. These rumors excited the 
genius of Ferguson, and he invented a breech-loading rifle, 
with which he performed some most extraordinary feats of 
practice at Woolwich in June, 1776, in the presence of the 
Master of Ordnance, General Amherst, and other officers of 
hio-h rank. And on one occasion his Majesty George HI 
himself had honored him with his presence at an ex- 
hibition of his skill. He was regarded as the best rifle- 
shot in the British army, if not the best marksman living, 
excepting, possibly, his associate, Major George Hanger. 
Anxious to take part in the American war, he joined Sir 
Henry Clinton, and was placed at the head of a corps of 
riflemen picked from the different regiments, and soon 



IN THE DEVOLUTION' 603 

after participated in the battle of Brandy wine on the 11th 
of September, 1777, in which he rendered the most impor- 
tant service. Wasliington, it is said, owed his life at the 
battle of Germantown to Ferguson's ignorance of his 
position, or to his humanity, — the account differs as to 
which, — having been repeatedly within the range of his 
unerring rifle. Wiien the British evacuated Philadelphia 
in June, 1778, Captain Ferguson accompanied the retiring 
forces and of course participated in the battle of Mon- 
month on the way. lie it was who commanded the ex- 
pedition which surprised and cut to pieces the infantry 
of Pulaski's leEfion at Little EcfST Harbor on the 14th of 
October of that year. During the northern campaign 
of 1779 he had been engaged in several predatory excur- 
sions along the coast and on the Hudson. When Sir 
Henry Clinton fitted out his expedition against Charles- 
town at the close of 1779, he very naturally selected Major 
Ferguson to share in the important enterprise. A corps 
of three hundred men called the American Volunteers^ 
was assigned to his command, he having the choice of 
both officers and soldiers, and for the special service he 
had been given the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. At his 
request Major Hanger's corps of two hundred Hessians 
were joined to his own. Colonel Ferguson's command, as 
has been seen, formed a part of the troops under General 
Patterson which had joined Sir Henry Clinton on the 

' In T/ie Wiiuunr/ of the West Governor Roosevelt says in a note that, 
though called volunteers, this body was simply a regular regiment raised 
in America instead of England. Ferguson himself always spoke of them 
as regulars. The British, says Roosevelt, gave an absurd number of 
titles to the various officers ; thus Ferguson was a Brigadier General of 
Militia, Lieutenant Colonel of Volunteers, a Major in the army, etc. 
(Vol. II, 24."}.) But the same system prevailed in our own army during 
the late Spanish war, and does to-day in the Philippines, officers holding 
at the .same time different ranks in the regular and the volunteer lines. 



604 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Stono on the 25th of March, and had supported Tarleton 
in his attack upon Huger at Monck's Coiner on the 12th 
of April. Ferguson, says Irving, was a fit associate of 
Tarleton in hardy, scrambling partisan enterprise, equally 
intrepid and determined, but cooler and more open to im- 
pulses of humanity.^ But Ferguson, besides his superior 
humanity, was much more than a mere soldier. His 
characteristics were more those of Lieutenant Colonel 
Archibald Campbell, under whose command the Seventy- 
first Regiment had first come to the South, and whose wise 
and conciliatory conduct after his defeat of Howe before 
Savannah had effectually secured to his King the fruits of 
his conquest and had permanently reestablished the Royal 
authority in Georgia. Major Hanger, Colonel Ferguson's 
companion, was a man of different character, dissolute in 
his habits and reckless in his conduct, but, like Ferguson, 
a good soldier.2 These men Sir Henry Clinton directed 
to repair to the interior settlements and jointly or sepa- 
rately to organize, muster, and regulate all volunteer corps 

1 Irving's Life of WashiiKjton, vol. IV, 51. 

2 George Hanger, fourth Baron of Colcrainc, was the youngest son 
of Gabriel Hanger, created Baron of Coleraine in the peerage of Ireland. 
Educated at Eton and Gottingen, on January 31, 1771, was gazetted an 
Ensign, First Regiment of Foot Guards ; resigned, and left the Guards ; 
appointed by Landgrave of Ilesse-Cassel captain in the Hessian Jager 
Corps, February, 1770; .sailed for America, where he served throughout 
the war ; was aide-de-camp to Sir Henry Clinton during the siege of 
Charlestown. Upon his return to England was with Tarleton, Lord 
Rawdon, then Earl of Moira, and Sir Joiin McMahon (of whom later), 
one of the Prince of Wales's (George IV) fast set. and even in that circle 
was famous for his eccentricity and i)rofligacy. Losing the countenance 
of his royal master because of the freedom with which he treated him, 
he was an inmate of the King's Bench Prison in 1708-99. He was the 
author of several works. The Life and Opinions of Colonel George 
Hanger appeared in London in 1801. On the second page of that un- 
savory book is a portrait of Hanger, witli cocked liat and sword, sus- 
pended on a gibbet. In the second volume of this work he announced 



IN THE l: EVOLUTION 605 

and inspect the quantity of grain and number of cattle, 
etc., belonging to the inhabitants, and report to Lord Corn- 
wallis, who would be left in command of the southern 
province. The powers of their commissions were very 
extensive. It autliorized them to receive the submission 
of the people, administer oaths of fealty, and exact pledges 
of Royal service ; but it extended still farther. ^ No author- 
ity had really existed in this part of the countiy since Lord 
William Campbell had abandoned the government in 1775. 
It has been seen how little impression William Henry 
Dra^'ton's mission had been able to make upon the people 
in Colonel Fletchall's district between the Saluda and the 
Broad. They had never accepted either the Association 
or the new government established in 1776; and none 
other existed. Large civil powers were therefore also 
added to the commissions of Ferguson and Hangei", even 
authority to perform the marriage service. The commis- 
sioners did not establish any civil government, but they 
thoroughly oiganized the loyal militia, forming them into 
six battalions.2 

After a fortnight's rest at Ninety-Six Colonel Ferguson 
advanced some sixteen miles, and selected a good location 
on Little River, where he erected some field works, while 
most of his provincials jjushed on to the Fair Forest 
region. This camp was at the plantation of Colonel 
Janies Williams, in what is now Laurens County, near the 
Newberry line, where the British and Tories long main- 
tained a post, a part of the tinie under General Cuning- 

the singular prophecy that one of these days the Northern and Southern 
powers will figlit as vigorously against each other as they both have 
united to do against the Hritish. Vol. II, 425-420. 

1 This account of Colonel Ferguson is taken from Draper's King''s 
MiiiDitnin and its Ilrmea, Chapter III. See also lioosevelt's The Win- 
niiKj of the West, vol. II, 242. 

'^ Kint/s MuiiHtaiii and its Heroes, 143. 



606 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAIIOLINA 

ham, till they evacuated Ninety-Six the following year.^ 
Major Hanger did not remain long with Colonel Ferguson 
in the Little River region, for early in August he was 
transferred to Tarleton's legion as Major. 

" We come not," declared Ferguson, " to make war on 
women and children, but to relieve their distresses." He 
would sit down for hours and converse with the country 
people on the state of public affairs, and point out to them 
from his view the ruinous effect of disloyalt3^ He was as 
indefatigable in training them to his way of thinking as he 
was in instructing them in military exercises. The conde- 
scension on his part was regarded as wonderful in a king's 
officer, and very naturally went far to secure the respect 
and obedience of all who came within the sphere of his 
almost magic influence.^ 

To Colonel Ferguson's standard, while encamped at 
Little River, the Tories of the country, whose spirit had 
been kept up by the Cuninghams, Fletchall, Robinson, 
and Pearis, now flocked in large numbers. Companies and 
regiments were organized and many officers commissioned 
for the Royal service. David Fanning, the notorious 

^ Draper fixes the location of Williams's plantation as about a mile 
west of Little Kiver, and between that stream and Mud Lick Creek on 
the Old Island Ferry Road followed by General Greene when he re- 
treated from Ninety-Six in 1781. Ferguson's camp was near the inter- 
section of a road leading to Laurens Court House, about six miles 
distant — MS. letters, he says, of General A. C. Garlington, July 19 and 
20, 1880, on authority of Colonel James W. Watts, a descendant of 
Colonel W^illiams, and Major T. K. Vance and others. T). R. Crawford, 
of Martin's Depot, South Carolina, states that three miles above the old 
Williams place, on the west side of Little River, opposite the old Mellin 
store, must have been an encampment, as old gun barrels and gun locks 
have been found there. King's Mountain and its Heroes, 09 ; Tarleton's 
Campaigns, 80, 87, 100. 

2 Draper, King''s Mountain and its Ileroes, 72, 73 ; quoting Political 
Magazine (March, 1781), 125. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 607 

North Carolina Tory, secured from Colonel Ferguson com- 
missions for no less than sixty-two persons. But it was 
not only the youthful Loyalists, whose zeal and ambition 
prompted them to take up arms, who found a warm recep- 
tion in the British camp : but the desperate, the "idle, the 
vindictive, who sought plunder or revenge, were alike wel- 
comed ; but these were disciplined b}^ him and oi'ganized, 
drilled, and fitted for active service. Ferguson's principal 
camp was at Little River, as just described, but he was 
constantly on the move scouring the country in front of 
the posts from Rocky Mount to Ninety-Six. However 
gentle and patient he was with the Loyalists and with 
those whom lie hoped to win back to his Majesty's cause, 
to the avowed or known Rebels he was a bitter foe. Trav- 
ersing principally the present counties of Newberry, Union, 
and Spartanburg, and sometimes crossing into Fairfield and 
Chester, he mercilessly plundered the Whigs of their 
cattle, hoi-ses, beds, wearing apnarel, guns, and vegetables, 
even wresting rings from the fingers of the women. He 
believed as much in despoiling his enemies as Tarleton did 
in slausxhterinof them. 

That Ferguson during the period he held command in 
the Up Country had been both untiring and successful 
is well attested by a report of Lord Cornwallis to the 
home government, August 20, 1780: "In the district of 
Ninety-Six," says his lordship, "by far the most populous 
and powerful of the province, Lieutenant Colonel Balfour 
by his great attention and diligence and by the active 
assistance of Major Ferguson, who was appointed Inspec- 
tor (leneral of tlie Militia of the Province by Sir Henry 
Clinton, liad formed seven battalions of Militia consisting 
of about four thousand men, composed of persons well 
affected to the British government, which were so regu- 
lated that they could with ease furnish fifteen hundred 



608 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

men at a short notice for the defence of the frontier or 
any other service." ^ 

A singular exception to the general sentiment of the 
people in this section was a congregation of Presbyterians 
of the Fair Forest church, of which it was said that there 
was not a Tory among them. Of these Colonel John 
Thomas was one of the leaders. He was a native of Wales, 
but brought up in Chester County in Pennsylvania and 
removed to South Carolina. Before hostilities commenced 
he was residing upon Fair Forest Creek in the lower part 
of what is now Spartanburg County. He was one of the 
founders of the church and a militia captain and magis- 
trate under the Royal government. Having resigned 
his Majesty's commission, he was elected Colonel of the 
regiment in the place of Fletchall when that officer re- 
fused to join the new government. After the fall of 
Charlestown he was, under Sir Henry Clinton's proclama- 
tion, thrown into confinement in violation of the parole 
he had given and the protection he had received. He 
had four sons in the rebel service, two of whom fell in the 
cause. John Thomas, Jr., succeeded his father in the com- 
mand of the regiment and made his mark on many a well- 
fought field. The other son was a youth at the time of 
the war, but not too young to do some important service. 
He had also four daughters, each of whose husbands was 
a Whig and each ultimately held a commission in the field. 

It happened that while Colonel John Thomas the elder, 
with two of his sons, was confined at Ninety-Six as a pris- 
oner, Mrs. Thomas visited her husband and sons, and 
while there overheard two women in conversation, one 
remarking to the other, "• On to-morrow tlie Loyalists intend 
to surprise the Rebels at Cedar Spring." Tiiis was a camp 
in which Colonel John Thomas, Jr., her son, was organizing 
^ King^s Mountain and its Heroes, 142. 



IN THE REVOLUTIOX 609 

a body to join Sumter at Clem's Creek. Startled at this 
information, as slie had two sons as well as many of her 
friends and neighbors in that camp, which was but a few 
miles beyond her own home, Mrs. Thomas determined at 
once to return and apprise them of the intended attack. 
This was on the 12th of July, the night on which Huck's 
party was cut to pieces at Williamson's plantation in York. 
She started eai'ly the next morning, the 13th, and reached 
Cedar Spring that evening in time to give her friends 
warning of the impending danger. 

Colonel John Thomas, Jr., the son of the heroine of this 
story and of Colonel John Thomas the prisoner, who 
had succeeded his father in command of the Fair Forest 
Whigs, now headed the small band of some sixty in num- 
ber encamped at the Cedar Spring. On receiving the 
timely intelligence of the intended attack. Colonel Thomas 
and his men, after a brief consultation, retired to a distance 
in rear of their campfires, and awaited the impending 
onset. The British enemy, one hundred and fift}^ strong, 
soon made their appearance, and rushed upon the camp, 
where they expected to find the luckless rebels profoundly 
enwrapped in slumber; but on the contrary they were wide 
awake and astonished their assailants with a volley of 
rifle balls. Several were slain and the rest routed. It 
was a short, quick, and decisive affair. It was fortunate 
for the Thomas party that the attack was made at night, 
as it prevented the enemy from discovering their own 
great superiority in numbers.^ 

Ferguson now moved his posts, crossed the Enoree at 
Kelly's Ford, and for a time encamped in the fork at the 
plantation of Colonel James Lyles, who was then in the 
service with Sumter on the Catawba ; and there, embody- 

^ King's Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 73-75; Hist. Presby- 
terian Church (Howe), vol. I, 633-534. 
VOL. ni. — 2 R 



610 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ing the Tories, he kept moving about the country and 
sending out his detachments in every direction. He 
marched into what is now Union County, camping on the 
south side of Tyger River about half a mile below Black- 
stock's Ford ; thence passed into the settlement called 
" The Quaker INIeadow," but since known as the IVIeadow 
Woods. Thence he moved up into the Fair Forest settle- 
ment. During this period of several weeks the Tories 
scoured all that region of country, plundering the people. 
The horses of Ferguson's men were turned loose into any 
fields of grain that might be most convenient. Foraging 
parties brought in cattle to camp for slaughter, or wantonly 
shot them down in the woods and left them. As many 
of the Whigs as could be found were apprehended, not 
even excepting those who had previously taken protection. 
But these were not many. Most of the Rebels at heart 
at this time capable of bearing arms were serving in Sum- 
ter's command, so that Ferguson had an excellent oppor- 
tunity to drill his new recruits and support his men by 
pillaging the people.^ 

Shortly after the fall of Charlestown, and before Colonel 
Browne had reached Augusta with his detachment, a party 
of Loyalists under the command of a Captain Hollings- 
worth was sent by McGirth, who was now commissioned 
as a Colonel in the Roj^al service, into the neighborhood 
of Captain McKoy in South Carolina, whose activity ren- 
dered him peculiarly obnoxious to the British. The party 
murdered seventeen men on their farms in one or two 
days. The country exhibited a scene of ruin. All the 
movable property was plundered, and every house was 
burned. A flourishing country of thirt}^ miles in length 
and ten in breadth was desolated. Disappointed in their 
expectations of getting possession of McKoy's person, they 
1 iiin^'s Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 77. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 611 

tortured his wife to extort from her a knowledge of the 
phiee of his concealment. The mode of inflicting the tor- 
ture was by taking a flint out of a musket and putting her 
thumb in its place. Tlius improvising a most effective 
thumbscrew, the screw was applied until the thumb was 
ready to burst. While under this newly invented species of 
torture, in addition to the questions put to her respecting 
her husband, she was required to disclose the secret deposit 
of her most valuable property, which they alleged had been 
removed and hidden in the woods. McKoy was after- 
ward charged witli cruelty toward the enemy by his own 
countrymen who were engaged in the same cause, but it 
is scarcely to be wondered at that he should have sought 
revenge for such barbarous treatment of his wife. Such 
atrocities upon the one side and the other did but provoke 
to others, and often to greater.^ 

Colonel Elijah Clarke, a noted partisan of Georgia, now 
also appears on the frontier of South Carolina. A native 
of Virginia, lie had first settled on the Pacolet, whence 
lie pushed into what is now Wilkes County, Georgia, 
where he was settled when the Revolution beeran. When 
Georgia was overrun, Clarke refused to take protection, 
and with other patriots of that State determined to move 
into South Carolina, to join those who were gathering 
under Sumter. Some small parties had already left Geor- 
gia, and passing by the foot of the mountains, sought the 
camp of Colonel Charles McDowell, who was embodying 
a force on the southwestern border of North Carolina. 

On the 11 til of July, one hundred and forty men, well 
mounted and armed, met at Freeman's Fort in Georgia, 
and crossed the Savannah at a private ford six miles above 
Petersburg, about ten miles west of the present town of 
Abbeville. The British and Loyalists were found in force 
1 McCall's Hist, of Georgia, 307. 



612 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

in their front, and Colonel Clarke determined that it would 
be too hazardous to attempt in their face to pursue his 
intended route. The men who composed Clarke's com- 
mand were volunteers, and, having- left their own State, 
each man claimed the right of thinking and acting for 
himself. The dangers which were presented, and the un- 
governable disposition of his men, induced Clarke to return 
to Georgia, temporarily to disperse and wait for more fa- 
vorable intelligence, Avhen he would make another attempt 
by passing near the foot of the mountains through Carolina. 
This plan was generally approved and a retreat was imme- 
diately commenced. 

Colonel John Jones of Burke County, however, objected 
to the retreat and proposed to a few to leave the country at 
every hazard, and, by passing through the woods of South 
Carolina, to join the Continental army wherever it was to 
be found. Thirty-five men formed themselves into a com- 
pau}^, appointed Jones their Captain and John Freeman 
Lieutenant, promising implicit obedience to their ordei-s. 
They were fortunate in securing the services of Benjamin 
Lawrence, a good woodsman of South Carolina, well ac- 
quainted with the country, as their guide. Li passing 
through the disaffected country they pretended to be a 
company of Loyalists engaged in the King's service, and 
in many instances were furnished with pilots upon that 
representation. "When they had passed the headwaters 
of the Tyger River ^ one of the guides informed them that 
a party of Rebels had attacked some Loyalists the preced- 
ing night a short distance in front and defeated them. 
This was doubtless an allusion to the affair of Colonel 

1 Draper says that .Jones's retreat crossed the headwaters of the Sahida 
(Kimfn Mountains and its Jlcnics, 79), but this Landruin shows to liave 
been a mistake. It was tlie headwaters of the Tyger, as stated in the text. 
Colonial and Revolutionary Hist, of Upper So. Ca. (Landriini), 110. 



IN THK KEVOLUTION 613 

John Thomas, Jr., at Fair Forest, which has just been de- 
scribed. Jones thereupon expressed a wish to be con- 
ducted to the phice, that he might join the Loyalists and 
have it in his power to take revenge for the blood of the 
King's subjects which had been shed. This the guide 
readily undertook to do, and about eleven o'clock, on the 
niglit of the 13th of July, Jones was led to the Royal party, 
where about forty were collected to pursue the Americans, 
who had retreated toward North Carolina. Jones at once 
made l»is dispositions to attack by surprise with twenty- 
two men, leaving the horses and baggage in charge of the 
remainder. Approaching the enemy, he found them in a 
state of self-security and generally asleep. On the first 
fire one of the enemy was killed and three were wounded. 
Thirty-two, including the wounded, surrendered and called 
for quarter. Jones ordered all the enemy's guns to be 
destroyed except such as would be useful to his men, 
paroled the prisoners, and took as man}^ of the horses as 
they could carry away without incumbrance. The pilot 
did not discover his mistake until it was too late to pre- 
vent the consequences. After the skirmish was over the 
man was required to conduct Jones's party to Earle's Ford 
on Pacolet River, in what is now Spartanburg County, 
where he formed a junction with Colonel McDowell the 
next day.^ Jones's party had had no rest for three days 
and nierhts : ^fcDowell had also made a tedious march 
with liis three hundred men, so that they were all in a 
very fatigued condition.^ 

Within striking distance of McDowell's camping ground, 

1 Draper, from whom we have taken the account of this affair, fails 
to locate the place where it occurred. Landruui places it at Gowen's 
Old Fort on the old Blackstock Uoad, near South Pacolet River. Colo- 
nial and lievoliitionarij Hist, of Upper So. Ca., 117. 

a McCall's Jlist. of Georgia, vol. II, 311. 



614 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

some twenty miles in a nearly southern direction, was Prince's 
Fort,^ originally a place of neigliborhood resort in time of 
danger from Indians, on the settlement of the country 
some twenty years before. This fort, now occupied by a 
British and Tory force under Colonel Innes, was located 
upon a commanding height of land near the head of one 
of the branches of the North Fork of the Tyger River, 
seven miles north of west from tlie present city of Spar- 
tanburg. Innes, unapprised of McDowell's approach, de- 
tached Major Dunlap with seventy dragoons, accompanied 
by Colonel Ambrose Mills with a party of Loyalists, in pur- 
suit of Jones, of whose audacious operations he had just 
received intelligence. McDowell's camp was on rising 
ground on the eastern side of the North Pacolet, just across 
the dividing line between the two States in the present 
county of Polk in North Carolina. Dunlap reached the 
vicinity of McDowell's camp late at night, and, supposing 
it to consist of the Georgians only, commenced crossing 
the river, Avhich was narrow at that point, when an Ameri- 
can sentinel fled to the camp and gave the first notice of 
the enemy's presence. Dunlap and his men rushed into 
the camp with drawn swords when but few of the Ameri- 
cans were awake. The position of the Georgians in the 
encampment exposed them to the first attack, in conse- 
quence of which they sustained very great loss in propor- 
tion to their numbers. Colonel Jones received eight cuts 
on the head with a sabre. Freeman rallied the remainder 
and joined Major Singleton, who had retreated about one 

1 One of the old forts or stockades, a rallying point in times of danger. 
It was circular in shape, built of heavy timbers, from twelve to fifteen 
feet high, surrounded by a ditch, the dirt from whicii was thrown against 
the walls, secured in front by an abatis. This fort took its name from 
Mr. William Prince, who lived near it. Colonial ami lievoliitiotKiry Hist, 
of Upper So. Ca. (Landrum), 31 ; King's Mountain and its Heroes, 80. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 615 

Imiulretl yards behind a fence. McDowell formed the 
main body on Singleton's right. An advance was ordered, 
when the enem}' retreated across the rivei', which was 
fordable in many places, enabling them to retire without 
much loss. Of the Americans, eight weie killed and thirt}^ 
wounded. The enemy's loss was not known beyond that 
of a single wounded man left on the ground. 

Before sunrise the next morning iifty-two of the most 
active men, including Freeman and fourteen of his party, 
mounted upon the best horses in camp, were ordered to 
pursue the retreating foe under the command of Captain 
Edward Hampton.^ After a rapid march of two hours, the 
enemy were overtaken fifteen miles away, attacked, and 
completely routed. Eight of them were killed at the first 
fire, and Dunlap, unable to rally, made a precipitate retreat 
in which several more of his men were killed and wounded. 
The pursuit was continued within a few yards of the British 
fort, in which there were thiee hundred fresh men. Hamp- 
ton returned to camp at two o'clock, and brought with him 
thirty-five horses with dragoon equipage and a considerable 
portion of the enemy's baggage, without the loss of aman.^ 

The whole frontier of South Carolina was now ablaze. 
There were no Continental troops in the State. There was 
not even an officer with a regular commission except Davie, 
who held one as Major under the State of North Carolina, 
but who conmianded only a volunteer corps furnished and 
maintained by himself. But resistance had sprung up in 

1 A brother of Colonels Wade, Richard, and Henry Hampton. He 
was killed the ensuing October, at or near Fair Forest Creek, in the 
bosom of his family, by Bill Cuningham's notorious bloody scout. He 
\\a.s in the prime of life, and in his death his country lost a bold cavalier. 
He was the idol of his family and friends. Kiixfs Mountain and its 
Ili-mes (Draper), 83. 

- McCall's Ilisl. of Georgia, vol. II, 311, 312; Kin(/s Mountain and 
its Heroes, 80-83. 



616 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the face of the British posts from the people themselves. 
They had risen and attacked the liritish outposts along the 
whole line in what is now the counties of Chester, York, 
and Spartanburg. There had been engagements upon four 
successive nights, in each one of which the AVhigs had been 
victorious. At Williamson's and Bratton's plantations in 
York they had attacked and destroyed Huck and his party 
on the 12th of July. Colonel John Thomas, Jr., had 
defeated the attack made upon his camp at Cedar Spring 
in Spartanburg on the night of the 13th. Then Colo- 
nel Jones had surprised the Loyalists at Go wen's Old Fort 
near the South Pacolet in the same county on the night of 
the 14th; and finally the attack of Dunlap on McDowell's 
camp on the night of the loth liad been avenged by Hamp- 
ton on the morning of the 16th. Of these engagements, 
it is true, none could be described as a great battle, but the 
British had, in less than a week, lost more than a hundred 
men killed and wounded, while the loss of the Americans 
had not amounted to half that number. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

1780 

The conduct of the British commanders within their 
lines was also driving men from desperation into the 
American camps. Forgetting, says Ramsay, their experi- 
ence in the Northern States, they believed the submission 
of the inhabitants to be sincere ; making no allowance for 
that propensity in human nature which leads mankind, 
when in the power of others, to frame their intelligence 
with more attention to what is agreeable than to what is 
true, the British for some time conceived that they had 
little to fear on the southern side of Virginia. When 
experience convinced them of the fallacy of their hopes, 
they were transported with indignation against the inhabit- 
ants. Without taking any share of the blame to them- 
selves for their policy in constraining men to an involuntary 
submission, they charged them with studied duplicity and 
treachery. A matter which added greatly to their rage 
and indignation, and, no doubt, to their apprehensions as 
well, was the fact that there were great desertions from 
the Royal army, and especially from Lord Rawdon's pet 
regiment, the Royal Volunteers of Ireland, wliich he had 
liimself organized in Philadelpliia. These deserters had no 
difficulty in concealing themselves among the people around 
the garrisons. Lord Rawdon, whose temper was soured bv 
disappointment, and was in great anger against the new sub- 
jects as well for tlieir unmeaning submissions as for their 
conniving at a practice so injurious to the Royal interests, 
on the 1st of July addressed a letter to Rowland Rugeley, 

617 



618 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAUOLINA 

now a Major of British militia near the headquarters in 
Camden, in which he stated that so many deserters from 
his aimy had passed with impunity through the district 
under Kugeley's command, that he must necessarily sus- 
pect the inhabitants to have connived at, if not facilitated, 
their escape. If attachment to their Sovereign, he wrote, 
would not move the country people to check a crime so 
detrimental to his INIajesty's service, it must be his care to 
urge them to their duty as good subjects b}^ using invaria- 
ble severity toward every one who should show so criminal 
a neglect of the public interest. He therefore instructed 
llugeley to signify to all within the limits of his command 
his firm determination that, if any person should meet a 
soldier straggling without a written pass beyond the pick- 
ets, and should not do his utmost to secui'c him or should 
not spread an alarm for that purpose, or if any person 
should give shelter to soldiers straggling, or should serve 
them as a guide, or should furnish them with passes or any 
other assistance, the persons so offending might assure 
themselves of rigorous punishment, either by whipping, 
imprisonment, or by being sent to serve his Majest}- in the 
West Indies, according as he should think the degree of 
criminality might require. Lord Rawdon also instructed 
Rugeley to offer the inhabitants ten guineas for the head 
of any deserter belonging to the Volunteers of Ireland, 
and five guineas onl}^ if they brought liim in alive. They 
should likewise be rewarded, though not to that amount, 
for each deserter belonging to any other regiment which 
they might secure. 

In addition to this Lord Rawdon, on the first rumor of 
an advancing American army, called on the inhabitants in 
and near Camden to take up arms against these approaching 
countr3'men, and confined in jail those who refused. In 
the midst of summer upward of IGO persons were shut up 



IN THE REVOLUTION 019 

in a sni:ill prison, and 20 or 30 of them, citizens of the most 
lespeclable character, were h)aded with irons. Mr. James 
Bradley, Mr. Strother, Coh^nel Few, Mr. Kersliaw, Captain 
lioykin, C()h)ncl Alexander, Mr. Irvin, Mr. Winn, Colonel 
Hunter, and Captain John Chesnnt were among those sub- 
jected to these indignities. The last of these gentlemen, 
though taken in Charlestown, and entitled, therefore, to 
the security of his person and property by solemn capitu- 
lation, was despoiled of 'S'oOOO worth of indigo and chained 
to the floor for a considerable time, on the charge, by one of 
his slaves, that he was corresponding with the Americans.^ 
This conduct of the British authorities had the very 
opposite effect from that which was intended. Instead of 
intimidating the people, it aroused every sentiment of indig- 
nation and revenge. .Gentlemen and men of cliaracter, how- 
ever well disposed to his Majesty's cause they may have 
been, resented the threat of being whipped or sent to serve 
with outcasts in a foreign service, unless they would turn 
detectives and constables to keep the Royal troops in their 
ranks. They preferred open war and at once accepted it. 
If Lord Ilawdon was to hold them as violators of their 
paroles and oaths of allegiance at the whispering of their 
own slaves, they had better at once renounce the pledge 
they had given, and take their lives and their honors in 
their hands while they might yet strike a blow in their 
defence. Acting upon this impulse and sentiment Colonel 
John Lisle,^ formerly Lieutenant Colonel of the militia 

1 Ramsay's Revolution of So. Cn., 131-13;'). 

2 In the AiuHtls of Xewbeny, Judge O'Neall, in a note to page 101, 
says, speaking of the Lyles family: "In Tarleton's Campaif/ns in the 
South, page 03, he speaks of one Lisle, who was from the District between 
Enoree and Tyger rivers, being banished to the islands ; returning, he 
took place in the regiment formerly commanded by Colonel Neel, then by 
Colonel Floyd, in the British interest, and carried it all off and joined Sum- 
ter. Who the Lisle spoken of by Tarleton may be, is uncertain." Join 



620 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

regiment between the Enoree and Tyger rivers under 
Colonel Fletehall, who had been captured and sent to 
the islands on the seacoast, and then required by Sir 
Henry Clinton's proclamation of the 3d of June to ex- 
change his parole for a certificate of allegiance, having 
returned home and obtained a command under Colonel 
Floyd, tlie British commandant of militia, had the address 
as soon as the battalion of militia was supplied with arms, 
to cany it off in a body to Colonel Neel, who was now 
with Sumter at Clem's Creek. The British historians^ 
speak of this action of Lisle as treacherous ; but if it 
was so was it not induced, if not justified, by Clinton's 
faithless conduct in forcing him to exchange a parole as a 
prisoner of war — owing his allegiance to the American 
cause, but agreeing not to serve against his Majesty during 
the war unless exchanged or recaptured — for an oath not 
merely of neutrality while a prisoner, but of change of 
allegiance? However this question of ethics should be 
decided, certain it is that the faithless and cruel conduct 
of the British commanders within the lines drove into the 
American ranks many men who otherwise would have 
remained quietly at home as good subjects of his Majesty. 
After the battle of Ramsour's Mill on the 18th of June, 
General Rutherford had marched toward the Yadkin to 
put down a body of Tories who were assembling under 
Colonel Bryan, while Major Davie and his mounted force 
were ordered to take position to check the foraging parties 
of the British across the line between the two States. 
Davie preceded Sumter, crossed the line, and took position 
on the north side of Waxhaw Creek, some fourteen miles 

Lisle was Lieutenant Colonel in 1775 of the Upper Saluda Regiment, of 
which Fletehall was Colonel. See ante, page 12, note. See also Moultrie's 
Memoirs, vol. I, 81!). 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, U;]-120 ; Steadman's Am. War, 200. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 621 

south of Clem's Creek. Here he was in the neighborhood 
in wliich lie hud been reared and in which he knew every 
road and by-path, and which was now to be the scene of 
his most brilliant exploits. He was joined by Major Craw- 
ford with some South Carolina volunteers and thirty-four 
Indian warriors of the Catawba under their chief New 
River, and some North Carolina militia under Colonel 
Heaggins. From this point Davie at once followed up the 
blow given at Williamson's. 

When Lord Rawdon fell back from the Waxhaws he 
established a post at Hanging Rock about twenty-four 
miles from Camden, on the road to Charlotte, just on the 
dividing line between the present counties of Lancaster 
and Kershaw. Davie determined to interrupt the com- 
munication between these posts. On the 2d of July lie 
fell upon a convoy of provisions at Flat Rock, a point 
about four and a half miles from Hanging Rock. The 
escort, some dragoons and volunteers, was surprised, and 
their capture was effected without loss ; the wagons with 
the spirits and provisions were destroyed ; and, with the 
prisoners mounted on the captured horses, the retreat was 
commenced at dark. 

It has been said that Davie's corps was never surprised 
or dispersed during the war ; ^ but in this his first adven- 
ture with his gallant little band, while he was not surprised, 
as he had expected that an attempt for the recovery of his 
booty and prisoners would be made, and had himself taken 
every precaution against it, the officer in command of his 
advance allowed his guard to be drawn into an ambuscade 
which only Davie's prompt and judicious conduct pre- 
vented from proving fatal. When the retreat from Hang- 
ing Rock with the prisoners was begun, the advance was 
formed of guides and a few mounted infantry under the 
^ Life of Marion (James), 74. 



622 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

charge of Captain Petit; the prisoners in the centre were 
guarded by dragoons under the command of Captain Will- 
iam Polk, who served as a volunteer ; a rear-guard closed 
the column. The ford of Beaver Creek which crossed his 
road Was approached by a lane which Davie foresaw would 
afford a suitable place for an ambuscade. Anticipating 
that an attempt to rescue his prisoners would be made at 
this place, Davie had ordered Captain Petit to advance and 
examine the lane, the ford of the creek, and the houses 
near it, and was expressly directed to secure all the per- 
sons in the families around so that no alarm could be 
created. He returned and reported that he had executed 
his orders, and that all was well. Upon this the party 
advanced, and the rear-guard had just entered the lane 
when an officer in the lead hailed the British who were 
discovered concealed under a fence in a field of standing 
corn. A second challenge was answered by a volley of 
musketry from the concealed foe, which commenced on the 
right and passed by a running fire to the rear of the de- 
tachment. Davie rode rapidly forward and ordered the 
men to advance and to push through the lane ; but under 
the surprise of the moment his troops turned back, and he 
was then compelled to repass the ambuscade under a heavy 
fire. Overtaking his men retreating by the same road 
they had advanced, he finally rallied and halted them upon 
a hill, but they were so discomfited at this unexpected 
attack that no effort could induce them to charge upon 
the enemy. A judicious retreat was the only course left 
to avoid further disaster. This was effected. Davie passed 
the enemy's patrols and regained his camp the next day 
without further accident or loss. The loss of Davie's 
corps was slight compared to the advantages gained by 
liim in the capture of the convoy. It so hapi)ened that 
the fire of the British fell chielly upon their own comrades, 



IX THE REVOLUTION 623 

Davie's prisoners, who were contined two on a horse, with 
the guard in the hme. They were nearly all killed or 
mortally wounded. In Davie's corps Lieutenant Elliott 
was killed, and Captain Petit and two of his men were 
wounded. In his account of this affair Davie observes 
that " it fui-nishes a lesson to officers of partisan corps that 
every officer of a detachment may at some time have its 
safety and reputation committed to him, and that the 
slightest neglect is generally severely punished by an 
enemy." ^ 

Soon after this Colonels Sumter, Lacey, and Neel with 
their volunteers from South Carolina and Colonel Irwin 
with 300 from Mecklenburg, North Carolina, joined Major 
Davie at Landsford on the Catawba. A council was held 
on the 30th of July, when it was determined that the Brit- 
ish posts at Hanging Rock and Rocky Mount should be 
attacked. It must be borne in mind that none of the South 
Carolina officers at this time liad any regular commis- 
sions. Sumter had been a Lieutenant Colonel in the Con- 
tinental line, but had resigned. He is usually spoken of 
as a Brigadier,^ but he was not so commissioned until 
the following October. Colonels Hill and Neel had been 
chosen Colonels, as we have seen, at a meeting of the patri- 
ots in their regimental limits, but there was no government 
to commission them. Governor Rutledge was in Phila- 
delphia appealing to Congress for assistance. While there- 
fore these officers held councils and devised plans, their 
recommendations were submitted to the men, whose appro- 
bation of a move in tliose times was absolutely requisite.^ 

1 Wheeler's Ilist. of No. Co., 181. Wheeler quotes from a manuscript 
written under the eye of General Davie by his son, then on file in the 
archives of the Historical Society, at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but 
which has unfortunately been lost. Lee's Memoirs of the War, '7^, 169. 

^ Ibid., 177. 

• Davie's MS. in Wheeler's Hist, of Xo. Ca., 192. 



624 * HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

This pioposcal to attack Rocky ]\Iount and Hanging Rock 
was agreed to, and it was determined that Sumter with the 
South Carolinians under Hill and Lacey, and the men from 
Mecklenburg under Irwin, should proceed against Rocky 
Mount, while Davie with his corps and a part of the 
North Carolina volunteers under Colonel Heaggins should 
march on Hano-ino- Rock to watch the motions oLthe grar- 
rison, to procure exact intelligence of the condition of the 
post, and to be ready to unite with Sumter in the intended 
blows. 

Rocky Mount station was fixed upon the comb of a 
lofty eminence encircled by open wood. This summit 
was surrounded by a small ditch and abatis ; in the centre 
were three log buildings, constructed to protect the gaj-ri- 
son in battle and perforated with loopholes for the annoy- 
ance of the assailants. On the 1st of August Sumter 
approached this position with his characteristic impetu- 
osit}', but the British officer was found on his guard and 
defended himself ably. Three times did Sumter attempt 
to carry it, but was always foiled, and having no artilleiy 
to batter down the house, he ordered an assault led by 
Colonel Andrew Neel. The assailants penetrated the 
abatis, but Colonel Neel and five of his men fell in the 
attempt, and many were mortally wounded.^ Sumter 
then ordered a retreat, which was effected without an- 
noyance or fui'ther injury. The British loss was one offi- 
cer killed, one wounded, and about ten men killed and 
wounded, 2 

Major Davie with about forty mounted riflemen and a 
like number of dragoons approached Hanging Rock the 
same day, and while reconnoitring the ground to commence 

1 Lee's Memoirs of the War, '76, 176; Wheeler's Hist, of No. Ca., 
101. 

2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 94. 



IN THE REVOM'TION • 625 

the attack, he received infoiniation that three companies of 
mounted infantry, a part of Bryan's North Carolina regi- 
ment of Loj^alists returning from an excursion, had halted 
at a house near the post. This house was in full view of 
Hanging Rock. Davie at once determined to fall upon the 
party, and this he did with complete success. 

Advancing cautiously and eluding the sentinels in one 
quarter with his infantry, and gaining the other point of at- 
tack with his horse undiscovered by marching through some 
adjoining woods, he placed the enemy between the two 
divisions. The riflemen, whose dress was similar to that 
of the Tories, passed the enemy's sentinels Avithout sus- 
picion or challenge, dismounted in the lane leading to the 
house, and gave them a well-directed fire. The surprised 
Loyalists fled to the other end of the lane, where they 
were received by the dragoons, who charged tliem boldly. 
Finding their front and rear occupied, the Loyalists at- 
tempted to escape in another direction believed to be 
open, but were disappointed. Davie having anticipated 
the movement, and detached thither a party of his dra- 
goons in time to meet them, the party was cut to pieces 
in the face of the whole British camp at Hanging Rock. 
There was no time for taking prisoners. The Lo3^alists 
were all, except a few, killed or wounded. Sixty valuable 
horses and one hundred muskets were the booty taken from 
tlie enemy. The British camp beat to arms, but this brill- 
iant but bloody affair was over and Davie out of reach 
before tlieir forces were in motion, or their consternation 
and panic subsided from this daring and successful at- 
tack. Davie reached his camp safely without the loss of 
a single man.^ 

On the r)th of August the detachments met again at 

1 Wheeler's Hist, of No. Ca., 191, 192; Lee' s Memoirs of the War, '76, 
170, 177. 

VOL. III. — 2 8 



626 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Landsford on the Catawba. Their strength was little 
diminished ; Major Davie's corps was intact. The North 
Carolina militia under Colonel Irwin and Major Davie's 
corps numbered about 500 men; the South Carolinians 
under Colonels Sumter, Lacey, and Hill, about 300. 
Sumter well understood that, composed as his command 
was, it must be constantly emplo^'ed. lie understood 
that the minds of such men are greatly influenced by 
enterprise. It was also a matter of great importance to 
remove the enemy from their })osts in this neighborhood, 
and it was supposed that if one of them was taken the 
other would be evacuated. Upon a meeting of the officers, 
it was determined to attack Hanging Rock the following 
day. As this was an open camp, they expected to be on a 
more equal footing with the enemy ; and the men, whose 
approbation was required, on being informed of the deter- 
mination of the officers, entered into the project witli spirit 
and cheerfulness. The troops marched in the evening and 
halted about midnight within two miles of the enemy's 
camp, when a council was called to settle the mode of 
attack. Accurate information had been obtained of the 
enemy's situation. 

The British post was occupied by the infantry of the 
Legion, the Prince of Wales's American regiment, part of 
Browne's corps of Provincials, and Colonel Bryan's North 
Carolina Loyalists, a part of which had been cut to pieces 
by Davie a few days before. Colonel Bryan was one of 
the Loyalists who had promised to await Cornwallis's ad- 
vance in the fall, but Moore's precipitate rising and Ruth- 
erford's svibsequent movement had forced him to action, 
and with 8<)0 Loyalists from the Yadkin he had reached 
the Seventy-first Regiment, then stationed in the Cheraws.^ 
The garrison of Hanging Rock now amounted to 500 men, 
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 91. 



IN THH REVOLUTION 627 

of which 100 were of the infantry of Tarleton's Legion.^ 
The post was under the command of Major Carden of the 
Prince of Wales's American regiment.^ The whole front 
of the British camp was covered by a deep ravine and 
creek. The regulars were posted on the right; a part of 
the Legion and Browne's regiment were at some houses in 
the centre, and Bryan's Loyalists on the left, separated 
from the centre by a skirt of wood. 

Colonel Sumter proposed that the attack should be made 
in three divisions, each to march directly to the centre en- 
campment, then dismount, and attack its corresponding 
camp of the enemy. This plan was approved by all the 
officers but Major Davie, who insisted on leaving the horses 
where they were and marching to the attack on foot, urging 
their confusion necessarily consequent upon dismounting 
under a fire, and the certainty of losing the effect of a 
sudden and vigorous attack. His advice was, however, 
overruled. The divisions were soon formed, and as the 
morningf of the Gth of August broke the march to attack 
began. The general command was conferred on Colonel 
Sumter as the senior officer; Major Davie led the column 
on the right, consisting of his own corps, some volunteers 
of North Carolina, and some detached companies of South 
Carolinians. Colonel Hill commanded the left, composed 
of South Carolinians, and Colonel Irwin the centre, formed 
entirely of North Carolina Mecklenburg militia. The 
column turned from the road to avoid the enemy's picket 
and patrol, with the intention to return to it under cover of 
a delile near the camp; but the guides, either from igno- 
rance or timidity, led them so far to the right that the tln-ee 
divisions all fell on Bryan's Tory encampment. These 

1 Tarleton's Canipair/ns, 02; Davie's account, Wheeler's Ilist. of No. 
Ca., 102 ; Mnnoirs <>/ the War of 1776 (Lee), 177. 
* Steadiuan's A)n. War, 202. 



028 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

people were attacked in front and flank, and routed with 
great slaughter. They fled in confusion toward the centre 
encampment, from which the Americans pressing in pursuit 
were received with a deadly fire from the British Legion 
Infantry and some companies of Browne's regiment posted 
behind a fence. Their impetuosity was not, however, for 
a moment checked by this unexpected fire. They pressed 
on and broke the Legion Infantry, who joined the flight of 
the Loyalists, and yielded their camp to Sumter's men. 
At this moment a part of Colonel Browne's regiment had 
nearly changed the fate of the day. By a bold and skilful 
manoeuvre the}^ passed into a wood between the Tory and 
centre encampments, drew up unperceived, and poured in 
a heavy fire on Sumter's men forming from the disorder of 
the pursuit on the flank of the encampment; but these 
brave men returned the fire with deadly effect, and in a 
few minutes there was not a British officer standing, man}- 
of the regiment had fallen, and the rest, on being offered 
quarter, threw down their arms. The remainder of a 
British line who had also made a movement retreated 
liastily toward their former position, and formed a hollow 
square in the centre of the cleared ground. 

But noAV in the moment of victory an occurrence took 
place which was the first of a series of events which 
seemed inevitably in Sumter's career to lose him the full 
fruits of his courage and enterprise. The rout and pursuit 
of the enemy by a part of his command, and the plunder 
of their camp by others, threw the victorious Americans 
into nfieat confusion. The utmost exertions were made 
by Sumter and the otlier officers to press the men to 
attack the British square, but the ranks had become so 
disordered that only two hundred men and Davie's infan- 
try could be brought into array. These were collected 
and formed on the side of the road, and a lieavy but in- 



IX THE REVOLUTION 629 

effectual fire was opened on the British troops. But 
Sumter could not, by all his exertions, bring his troops 
to risk close action with his well-posted enemy, supported 
by two pieces of artillery. On the other hand, a large 
body of the enemy, consisting of the Legion Infantry, 
Browne's regiment, and tlie Tories, were observed rallying 
and forming on the opposite side of the British camp near 
the woods. Upon this Major Davie passed round the camp 
under cover of the woods and fell upon them, routing and 
dispersing them. 

The distance of the square from the woods prevented 
the Americans from making any considerable impression 
on the British troops, so that on iSIajor Davie's return it 
was agreed to plunder the camp and retire. The British 
commissary stores in the centre of the encampment were 
taken, and unfortunately a number of men became intoxi- 
cated. j\Ian)' also were loaded Avitli plunder, and those in 
a condition to fight had exhausted their ammunition ; 
about an hour had been emplo3'ed in plundering the 
camp, taking the parole of the British officers, and pre- 
l)aring litters for the wounded. A retreat had now 
Ijecome absolutely necessary. This was commenced about 
twelve o'clock, very leisurely, in the face of the enemy, 
who did not attempt an interruption. As Sumter began 
to move off, a party was seen drawn up on tlie Camden 
road, with the appearance of a renewal of the contest. 
This was two companies of the British Legion return- 
ing from Rocky Mount, who, hearing the cannon and 
nuisketry at Hanging Rock, had made a circuit to get 
into the Camden road to reenforce their companions. 
Davie at once charged them with the dragoons, when they 
look to the woods. 

The British consoled themselves with military music 
and an interlude of three cheers for King George, which 



G30 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was at once answered by three cheers from the Americans. 
Sumter's men at length got into the line of march, Davie 
and his dragoons covering the retreat. The loss of the 
Americans was never correctly ascertained, from the want 
of regular returns and many of the wounded being carjied 
home from tlie action. The British historians assert that 
about one hundred dead and wounded were left on the 
field.i The corps of Davie suffered most.^ lie lost many 
while tying their horses and forming under a heavy fire, a 
measure against which he had advised in the council which 
had decided the mode of attack. Captain John McClure 
was mortally wounded. He had been shot through the 
thigh early in the action, but stuffing the wound with 
wadding he ruslied ahead of his men, and his clear voice 
was still heard urginar them to continue the charge. Just 
as the Tories broke he fell, with several wounds. He was 
]-emoved to Charlotte, where he died on the 18th. In his 
death the country lost a hero, and his fellow-soldiers an 
officer who was all energy and vigilance in his warfare. 
Davie spoke of him as "the bravest of the brave." ^ Cap- 
tain Reed of North Carolina was killed ; Colonel Hill, 
Major Winn, and Lieutenant Crawford of South Carolina, 
and Captain Craighead and Ensign McClure of North 
Carolina, were wounded. 

The British loss exceeded that of the Americans. Tarle- 
ton states that Captain McCuUock, who commanded the 
Legion Infantry witli much distinction, was killed with 
two other officers and 20 men, and upwards of 30 of 
the same corps were wounded : that the detachment of 
Colonel Browne's regfiment had likewise lost some officers 
and men killed and a few taken prisoners; but that 
Colonel Bryan's North Carolina refugees were dispersed, 

^ Tarleton's Campaigns, 9.'). ^ Johnson's Traditions, 34(3. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1770 (Lee), 178. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 631 

and did not suffer considerably.^ Lieutenant McKenzie, 
an officer of the Seven ty-liist lleginient, denies this hitter 
statement, and says that it is attributable to Tarleton's 
partiality for his own corps which caused him to consign 
lo oblivi(Hi the gallantry of those with which he was not 
immediately connected,^ and in justification of this state- 
ments points out Tarleton's silence as to the loss of Lieu- 
tenant Brown of North Carolina, who fell in a desperate 
charofe. Besides Lieutenant Brown, McKenzie states the 
loss in the North Carolina i-eginient at no less than TO 
killed and wounded.^ ]Major Hanger, in reply to the 
strictures of McKenzie, states that the loss the Prince of 
Wales's regiment sustained was heavy, that both the officers 
and men were nearly destroyed ; and adds in a note that 
the resfiment consisted of about 80 or 90 men, of which 
every private, except 18 or 20, and every officer, were 
killed or wounded.* From the British authorities, there- 
fore, their losses were in the Legion Lifantry killed and 
wounded 52 ; in the North Carolina Loyalists 70 ; in the 
Prince of Wales's regiment 70, and some officers and men 
killed and taken in Browne's regiment. The British loss 
can therefore be safel}' put down at something over 200. 

Ferguson, as has been seen, had been steadily advancing 
froni his camp on Little River through L^nion and Spar- 
tanburg. When Colonel McDowell became convinced 
that his movement threatened the invasion of North 
Carolina, he not only promptly raised what force he could 
from tlie sparsely populated settlements on the heads of 

1 Tarleton's Campaiijiis, 05. 

2 Strirtnirs on Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton's History, by Roderick 
McKenzie, Lieutenant Seventy-first Regiment (London, 1787), 20. 

* Address to the Army in Reply to Strictures by Boderick McKenzie, etc., 
Hanger (London, 1789), 28. 



632 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAllOLINA 

the Catawba, Broad, and Pacolet rivers to take posts in his 
front, bat dispatched a messenger with the alarming 
intelligence to Colonels John Sevier and Isaac Shelby on 
Watauira and Holston, and those over-mountain refrions 
then a portion of North Carolina but now of East Ten- 
nessee, urging those noted border leaders to bring to his 
aid all the riflemen they could, and as soon as possible.^ 
Sevier, unable himself to leave liis frontier exposed to tlie 
inioads of the Cherokees, responded at once to the appeal 
by sending part of his regiment under Major Charles 
Robertson ; and Shelby, being more remote and having 
been absent on a surveying tour, was a few days later, 
but joined McDowell at the head of 200 mounted 
riflemen about the 25th of July, at his camp near the 
Cherokee Ford on Broad River,^ near the junction of the 
present counties of Union, York, and Spartanburg. 

When Colonel Elijah Clarke returned to Georgia, he 
found warm and zealous advocates in the members of the 
council of the revolutionary government in rousing into 
action and resistance the Whigs of the western district of 
the State. The greatest exertions were used to stimulate 
them to join their countrymen and resist the enem}^ ; but 
during their continuance in that State it was necessary to 
secrete the recruits in the woods, and privately to support 
them by their friends. This mode of living soon became 
insupportable, and a general wish prevailed to leave the 
State and join those who were in the field in South Caro- 
lina, where their services would be useful. Clarke's men 
were therefore again assembled, crossed the Savannah, and 
marelied along the slope of the mountains until they met 
Colonel Innes, near the line between South and North 

1 For sketches of Sevier and Shelby, see Kincfs Mountain and its 
Heroes (Draper) and The Winning of the West (Roosevelt). 
'■^ Kin(fs Mountain and its Heroes, 84. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 633 

Carolina. Always choosing the most advantageous posi- 
tion, Clarke often shifted his camping ground to guard 
against surprise. His little force was augmented from 
time to time by small parties from Georgia, and by Cap- 
tain James McCall, of South Carolina, of whose capture 
and escape from the Indians we have told, with about 
twenty men from Colonel Pickens's regiment from the 
Ninety-Six region. With this body Clarke pushed on and 
joined Sumter on the Catawba. 

Draper relates this story of the capture of Captain Pat- 
rick Moore, a noted Loyalist. Moore had escaped from 
the slaughter at Ramsour's Mill on the 20th of June, 
when his brother. Colonel John Moore, safely returned to 
Camden. Anxious for the capture of Captain INIoore, 
Major Josej)!! Dickson and Captain William Johnson were 
sent out early in July to apprehend this noted Tory leader, 
and others if they could be found. On Lawson's Fork 
of Pacolet River, near the old Iron Works, since Bivings- 
ville, and now known as Glendale, the parties met and a 
skirmish ensued, in whicli Captain Johnson and the Tory 
leader had a personal rencontre. ^Nloore was at length over- 
powered and captured, but in the desperate contest John- 
son received several wounds on his head and on the thumb 
of his right hand. AVhile bearing his prisoner toward the 
Whig lines a short distance away, he was rapidly approached 
by several British troops. Attempting to fire his loaded 
musket at his pursuers, it unfortunately missed in conse- 
quence of the blood flowing from Iiis wounded thumb and 
wetting his priming. This misfortune on his part enabled 
his prisoner to escape, and, perceiving his own dangerous 
and defenceless condition, he promptly availed himself of a 
friendly thicket at his side, eluded his pursuers, and shortly 
after joined the command.^ 

^ Kimfs Mountain and its Hi'roes, 85, 8(5. 



634 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

At this time or soon after Moore commanded Fort An- 
derson, or Thicketty Fort as it was more generally called, 
situated a quarter of a mile north of Goucher Creek and 
two and a half miles above the mouth of this small water- 
course which empties into Thicketty Creek, a western tiibu- 
tary of Broad River uniting with that stream a few miles 
above the junction with Pacolet. It was a strong fortress, 
built a few 3"ears before for a defence against the Chero- 
kees, and was surrounded by a strong abatis well fitted for 
a vigorous defence. It became a great place of resort and 
protection for Tory parties. They would sally forth from 
Thickett}' Fort and plunder Whig families in every direc- 
tion, so that women and children were often left without 
clothing, shoes, bread, meat, or salt. 

Sumter, hearing of Ferguson's inroads beyond Broad 
River, directed Colonel, Clarke and his Georgians who had 
now joined him, together with such persons in that region 
as desired to aid in its protection, to repair to that quarter. 
Caj^tain William Smitli, afterwards the distinguished judge 
and senator from South Carolina, and his company availed 
themselves of this privilege. Arriving at Cherokee Ford, 
they met Colonel McDowell, where Colonel Shelby, Colo- 
nel Clarke, Colonel Andrew Hampton, and Major Charles 
Robertson of Sevier's regiment were detached with six 
hundred men to take Thicketty Fort some twenty miles dis- 
tant. The detachment took up the line of march at sunset 
on the 20th of July and suri'ounded the post at day- 
break the next morning. Colonel Shelby sent on William 
Cooke, who in after years was United States senator from 
Tennessee, to make a peremptory demand for the surrender 
of the garrison. Moore replied that he would defend the 
place to the last extremit}'. Shelby then advanced his 
lines to within musket shot of the enemy to make an 
assault. Upon this formidable aj[)pearance and decisive 



IN THE REVOLUTION 635 

action ^loore relented and proposed to suriender on condi- 
tion that the garrison shonld he [)aroled, not to serve again 
dining this war nidess exchanged. 'J'his was readily 
acceded to, as the Americans did not care to he encum- 
hered with prisoners. Thus ninety-three Loyalists witli 
one British sergeant-major surrendered without firing a 
gun, and among the trophies of victory were 250 stands of 
arms, all loaded with ball and buckshot, and so disposed at 
the portholes that double the number of Whigs might 
easily liave been repulsed. A letter taken among the 
spoils, after the battle of King's Mountain, states that the 
officer next in command and all the others gave their opin- 
ion for defending the post, and charged cowardice and 
treachery on the part of iNIoore.^ The capture of Thicketty 
Fort occurred on Sunda}', the 30th of July. Shelby and 
his men, loaded with the spoils of victory, returned at once 
to McDowell's camp near Cherokee Ford. 

MiDowell's force at this time could not have exceeded 
1000 men, Avhile Ferguson's must have reached from 1500 
to 1800. It was, therefore, the policy of the Americans 
to maintain their position near Cherokee Ford until they 
could increase their forces sufficiently to meet Ferguson 
and overcome him. In the meanwhile, Colonel McDowell 
again detached Colonels Shelby, Clarke, and AVilliam 
Giaham witli a combined force of GOO mounted men to 
watch the movements of Ferguson's troops, and whenever 
possible to cut off his foraging parties. This party moved 
down Broad River some twenty-four miles to Brown's 
Creek, in wliat is now Union County, for the better and 
closer observation of I'^erguson's movements. They were, 
however, soon compelled, by a su[)erior force, to bear off 

1 Uamsoy's Aiinala of Teiinrssee, 214 ; /uHr/'s Mountain and its 
Ili-rovs (Dmpor), 88; Cohtnial ami Rcvulutionary Hist, of Upper So. 
Ca. (Landrum), 128, 134. 



636 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

thirty or forty miles to the upper portion of the Fair Forest 
settlement, within the present limits of Spartanburg. On 
the way they gathered strength. Hearing of these bold 
rebel troopers, Ferguson made several ineffectual efforts to 
surprise them ; but Clarke and Shelby were constantly 
on the alert, and having no fixed camp, they were not 
easily found. 

On the evening of the 7th of August Clarke and Shelby 
went into camp on Fair Forest Creek, nearly two miles 
west of Cedar Spring, at a point where the old road 
crossed that stream leading thence to Wofford's Iron 
Works and thence onward to the Cherokee Ford. These 
wary leaders did not omit, on this occasion, their habitual 
watchfulness ; and fortunate it was for them that they 
were so on their guard. Before day, the next morning, 
their scouts returned with the intelligence that the enemy 
were within half a mile of them. About the same moment 
the report of a gun was heard in the direction of the 
British party, which was afterwards ascertained to have 
been fired by one of Dunlap's men — a Tory who felt some 
compunctions of conscience at the idea of surprising and 
massacring his countrymen, but who protesting that it 
was accidental, was not suspected of treachery. Upon this 
alarm the Americans retreated, seeking a better position to 
accept battle. They fell back to the old Iron Works at 
Lawson's Ford of Facolet, leaving Cedar Spring apparently 
a mile to the right, and not very far from the old orchard 
on Thompson's place which was three or four miles from 
the ford over Fair Forest, a mile and a half from the Iron 
Works, and about a mile from Cedar Spring. Here an 
advantageous position was found, and the men were formed 
for battle. 

Before their retirement from their camp at Fair Forest 
the evening before, Josiah Culbertson — a son-in-law of 



IN THE ItEVOLUTIOX 637 

Colonel Jolin Thomas, Sr., who had, on a former occasion, 
shown great gallantry and determination,^ and who had 
recently joined Shelby — had obtained permission to return 
home two or three miles distant on Fair Forest Creek, 
charged, however, with the duty of making observation of 
any enemy he might find in that quarter. About daylight 
the next morning he rode fearlessly into the encampment 
he had left the evening before, supposing it still to be oc- 
cupied by his friends, not knowing that they had retreated 
and that Dunlap had occupied it. But Culbertson was 
equal to the emergency. Quickly discovering his mistake, 
with extraordinary coolness and presence of mind he rode 
very leisurely out of the encampment, with his rifle resting 
on the pommel of his saddle before him. As he passed 
along, he observed the dragoons getting their horses in 
readiness and making other preparations, indicating an 
immediate renewal of their line of march. No particular 
notice was taken of him in the British camp, as it was 
supposed he was one of their own men. He quietly left 
the camp in this way, but when out of sight he dashed 
off with good speed in the dii'ection he inferred that Clarke 
and Siielby had gone, and soon overtook his friends, and 
found they had chosen their ground and were prepared for 
the onslaught. 

Major Dunlap, who, as has been seen, was an officer of 
much energy and promptitude, soon made his appearance 
with a strong force — part provincial dragoons, and part 
mounted militia — and commenced the conflict. Tlie 
onslaught was furious, but vigorously met. The action 
lasted half an hour and was severely contested. Dunlap's 
mounted riflemen who were in front recoiled at the first 
fire, and their connnander found it difficult to rally them. 
Having at length succeeded, Dunlap placed himself at the 
1 Howe's Ilist. Preshytpriiin Church, Vol. I, 534. 



638 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

head of the dragoons, and led them on to renew the con- 
test, followed by the mounted riflemen, who could not, 
however, be brought to very close quarters. Dunlap's 
dragoons, with their broadswords, played a prominent part 
in the action. In the fierce hand-to-hand contest, Clarke, • 
who was maintaining a most unequal struggle with his 
foes, received two sabre wounds, one on the back of his 
neck and the other on his head, — his stock-buckle saving 
his life, — and he was even for a few moments a prisoner 
in charge of two stout men ; but taking advantage of his 
strength and activity, he knocked one of them down, when 
the other quickly fled out of liis reach. 

A number of British prisoners were captured, and Dun- 
lap was beaten back with considerable loss. He was pur- 
sued a mile, but could not be overtaken. About two 
miles below the battle-ground Dunlap's fugitives were met 
by Ferguson with his whole force, who together advanced 
to the Iron Works, from which, as they came in sight a few 
hours after the action, Clarke and Shelby were compelled 
to make a hasty retreat, leaving one or two of their wounded 
behind them. These were treated by Ferguson with human- 
ity, and left there when he retired. As Clarke and Shelby 
expected, Ferguson now pursued with the hope of regain- 
ing their prisoners ; but the American leaders retired 
slowly, forming frequently on the most advantageous 
ground to give battle, and so retarding the pursuit that 
the prisoners were finally placed beyond recapture.^ 

Each side claimed the victory, though no great advantage 
had been gained by either. Draper observes that it is not 

1 McCall's Ilisft. of Gcoryia, vol. II, 313, 314 ; Ramsey's Annals of 
Tennessee, 224 ; King^s Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 89, 102. 
Landrum maintains that tliis engagement should be called the second 
battle of Cedar Springs, and not of the Old or Wofford's Iron Works. 
Colonial and EevoliUiouari/ Ilist. if Upper So. Ca. (Landrum). 142. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 639 

easy to determine the actual strength of the parties engaged, 
nor their respective losses. McC'all does not specify how 
many on either side took part in the conflict — only that 
the Americans were outnumbered, erroneously naming 
Junes as the British commander, and states that the enemy 
[>ursued Colonel Clarke to Wofford's Iron Works, wheie 
he had chosen a strong position from which the British 
endeavored to draw him, that distant hring continued dur- 
ing the afternoon until near night, and that the Americans 
lost 4 killed and 5 or 6 wounded, while the enemy lost 5 
killed and 11 wounded. Mills mentions in one place that 
Clarke's force was 168, in another 198, evidently ignorant 
of tlie presence of Colonels Shelby and Graham with their 
followers ; that Ferguson and Dunlap combined numbered 
between 400 and 600, of which Dunlap's advance consisted 
of 60 dragoons and 150 mounted volunteer riflemen ; that 
the Americans had 4 killed and 23 wounded, all by the 
broadsword, while Dunlap lost 9,8 of his dragoons and 6 or 
7 Tory volunteers killed and several wounded.^ Shelby in 
Haywood's Tennessee states Ferguson's full force at about 
2000 strong, which Todd augments to 2500, of which 
Dunlap's advance was reputed at 600 or 700; that the 
strenjxth of the Americans was 600, and acknowledges that 
10 or 12 of the latter were killed or wounded, but does not 
state the loss of their assailants. Colonel Graham gives 
no numbers, but asserts that many of the enemy were killed. 
These several statements differ very much from the British 
re[)oi'ts and from each other. Rivington's New York Royal 
Gazette., of the 14th of September, places the loss of the 
Americans at 50 killed and the British at 8 killed. Allaire in 
his diary allows a British loss of between 20 and 30 killed 
and wounded, ami puts the American loss at 3 killed and 21 
wounded.'^ From these various accounts it may be con- 

> Mill's Statistics of So. Ca., 738. 

* Appendix to Kint/n ^[ountclin and its Heroes, 503. 



640 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

eluded that the Americans lost 4 killed and about 20 
wounded; and as Allaire, an officer in Ferguson's camp, 
was likely to know accurately the number killed and 
wounded on his side, the British loss may safely be taken 
at his statement. 

The last chapter told the story of four successive parti- 
san engagements on the 12th, 13th, 14th, and loth days of 
July. This has added to the account six more : that at Flat 
Rock in Lancaster on the 20th of July ; at Thicketty Fort 
in Spartanburg on the 30th ; at Rocky Mount in Chester 
on the 1st August ; at Hanging Rock in Lancaster on the 
same day; at Hanging Rock again on the 6th; and at the 
Old Iron Works in Spartanburg on the 8th. But there 
was still another field in which there was life and move- 
ment, and in which there were also other engagements — 
the region of the Pee Dee, to which we must now turn our 
attention. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

1780 

While the events just recorded were taking place in the 
upper part of the State, others no less stirring were trans- 
piring in the Low Country. Tarleton's barbarity, as has 
been seen, had roused all the fierceness of the Scotch- 
Irish on the Catawba and the Broad rivers : and Fero-u- 
son had at first in vain attempted to conciliate, and then 
with no better success to awe, the Whigs on the Savannah 
and the Saluda. Another officer, Major James Wemyss of 
the Sixty-third British Regiment, had been sent on a similar 
errand against the Irish at Williamsburg and the Welsh 
on the Upper Pee Dee. Immediately after the fall of 
Charlestown, Major Wemyss marched from Georgetown 
to Cheraw on the west side of the Pee Dee River, destroy- 
ing property of every description, and treating the inhab- 
itants with relentless cruelty. 

The atrocities perpetrated by the British and Tories, 
for the latter followed in the train of the conqueror, only 
served to drive the Wliigs to desperation, and led to a ter- 
rible revenge when the time arrived for throwing off the 
yoke. Major ^^'emyss, after accomplishing the object of 
Ills bloodv marcli, returned to Georofctown. On the 12th 
of November following, in attempting to surprise Sumter, 
as we shall see, he was taken prisoner, having been severely 
wounded in an engagement; and in liis pocket was a list 
of the houses lie had burned at Williamsburg and on the 
Pee Dee, which with great trepidation he showed to Sum- 
voL. in. — 2 T G41 



642 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ter, begging for protection against the Whigs, whose anger 
and revenge he so justly merited and greatly dreaded. 
Notwithstanding his atrocities, he was treated with indul- 
gence, but became a cripple for life.^ But in mentioning 
this we anticipate. 

Early in June Major McArthur with the famous Seventy- 
first Regiment, which under Maitland had fought so gal- 
lantly on the Stono and at the siege of Savannah the year 
before, and then had taken part in the siege of Charlestown, 
was stationed at the Cheraws on the Pee Dee to cover the 
country between Camden and Georgetown, and to hold 
correspondence with the Tory settlement at Cross Creek, 
North Carolina. 

Lord Cornwallis, in a letter to Sir Henry Clinton on the 
30th of June, wrote, " I have agreed to a proposal made 
by Mr. Harrison to raise a provincial corps of five liundred 
men, with the rank of major, to be composed of the na- 
tives of the country between the Pee Dee and Wateree, 
and in which it is extremely probable he will succeed." ^ 
This man, to whom Tarleton refers as a man of fortune,^ 
was one of two brotliers of bad character, — in fact, it 
is said, two of the Avorst banditti that ever infested a 
country. Before the fall of Charlestown they had lived 
by a road near McCallum's Ferry on Lynch's Creek, in a 
wretched log hut in which there was no bed covering but 
the skins of wild beasts. It was of such material that the 
British made officers for their purposes. The plan of 
raising the provincial corps failed, but the two brothers 
received high commissions : one, a major, was killed during 
the war ; the other, the one alluded to by Tarleton, be- 
came a colonel, and after the war was over retired to 

1 Grogs's Ilhl. of the Old Chcraics, 302, .30;] ; Ramsay's lievohttion, 
vol. II, 188, 189 ; also James's Life of Marion, 73. 

2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 117. » Jbid., 91. 



1 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 643 

Jamaica with much wealth acquired by robbery.^ The 
Tories led by these men committed many murders and 
depredations.^ 

During the occupation of Cheraw by Major McArthur, 
the Parish Church of St. David's was used as a barrack. 
According to tradition, McArthur and his officers were not 
wanting in courtesy to the ladies of the vicinity, and as a 
consequence were treated with such a degree of civility as 
the necessities of the case made imperative. The soldiers, 
however, were not generally restrained, and many persons 
in the neighborhood were plundered and treated with 
indigiiit}'. Numerous incidents are related of the suffer- 
ings and losses of the inhabitants during the brief sojourn 
of the enemy. 

Soon after Major McArthur's arrival, he proceeded 
down the river with a detachment and made his headquar- 
ters for a short time at Long Bluff. While there he 
offered a reward for the capture of Thomas Ayer. Ayer 
had made liimself conspicuous a short time before as tlie 
leader of a company which had been sent out to take some 
mischievous persons who had rendered themselves obnox- 
ious to the inhabitants by their lawless depredations. 
Having succeeded in capturing a portion of the band, he 
secured the country against any more depredations by 
hanging them all. 

The effect of the reward offered for Ayer was his capture 
by a party of Tory neighbors who had kept vigilant watch 
and cauglit him while on a visit to his family, sixteen Tories 
galloping u[) to tiie house to which he had come after night 
and securing him. Tied with buckskin thongs, they hur- 
ried him off to the river, intending to take him immedi- 
ately to Major McArthur; but by the time they reached 

1 James's Life of Marion, 45. 

a Hist, of Old Cheraws (Gregg), 308. 



644 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Hunt's Bluff a severe thunder storm had blown up, and 
fearing to cross and to prosecute their journey through the 
swamp, they concluded to keep their prisoner in an old 
unoccupied house on the bank until the morning. So se- 
cure did they think themselves that George Manderson, 
the. leader of the party, leaving Ayer in charge of the others, 
went down with one of his companions to get sn[)per at 
the house of Jonathan Johns in the neisfhborhood. But 
relief was soon to overtake the desperate Ayer. 

A few hours after the Tories left his residence, carrying 
him off with them, his elder brother llartwell, with five 
others, rode up very unexpectedly to the family, and upon 
learning what had occurred they at once set out in pur- 
suit, and took the Tory party completely hy surprise. Ap- 
proaching under cover of the darkness and storm, they 
were at the door of the house in which Thomas Ayer was 
held prisoner before they were discovered. Most of those 
guarding Ayer were asleep. Shooting first those that were 
up, they continued to fire and dispatch with the sabre and 
bayonet until all but one were killed. This one, Asal 
Johns, the son of his old neighbor, Jonathan Johns, a 
peaceable man, Thomas Ayer most generously and chival- 
rously protected with his own hody. Having induced his 
rescuers to spare this man's life, Thomas Ayer mounted 
the horse of one of the Tories just killed, and returned 
home with all possible speed, not knowing what might 
have happened to his famil}^ during his absence. 

lint the tragedy did not stop here. Unfortunately, Hart- 
well Ayer was not governed by the generous impulse of 
his l)rother. Learninor where Georefc Manderson was with 
his companions, he went off in pursuit; and, riding up 
cautiously to old Johns's residence, they civilly intpiircd for 
Captain Manderson, who, as he approached, was received 
with a shower of bullets. But, as it happened, though 



IN THE KKVULUTIUX 645 

struck with several, the wounds inflicted were slight, and 
springing through the back door of the house he made his 
escape to the swamp nearby. Tom Jolms, also one of the 
captors of Captain Thomas Ayer, had a similar experience. 
lie was knocked down with the butt of a musket and 
[tinned to the floor by a bayonet, and left for dead. But 
on the bayonet being removed, he arose and proved to be 
not seriously injured. 

Wlien informed of the rescue of Ayer and the slaughter 
of the Tories, McArthur determined in person to take ven- 
geance. Crossing the river with a strong party, he came 
very near surprising the Ayer family, then consisting of 
Mrs. Ayer and her sons Lewis Malone and Zaccheus, both 
of wliom were lads. They timely escaped, however, to the 
swamp, and remained in concealment several weeks. Mc- 
Arthur took possession of the deserted premises, killed the 
stock, and burned all the buildings except a corn crib, which 
he spared on account of the corn it contained, and which 
afterwards became the dwelling of the family to the close 
of the war.i 

Colonel Hill, it will be recollected, assured the Whigs 
of York that Washington was sending them assistance. 
The grand army coming was under the command of Gen- 
eral Gates, and as he api)roached South Carolina Lord 
Rawdon became anxious for the safety of the post at 
Chcraw, especially as the Highlanders of the Seventy-first 
liegiment had suffered greatly from the climate, to which 
they were unaccustomed. Tradition corroborates the ac- 
counts in the British histories, and tells how they sickened 
and died. Not many years ago quite a perceptible sink in 
the earth was pointed out as the spot where many of them 
were buried in one common grave. Major McArthur was 
directed to draw nearer to (^amden, and on the 24th he 
1 Hist, of the Old Cheraws (Gregg), 300, 312. 



646 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

moved to a position on the east branch of Lynch's Creek. 
Knowing of no enemy within many miles, he ventuied to 
sendiibout one hundred sick in boats down the Pee Dee 
to Georgetown, under the care of Lord Nairne and the 
escort of a detachment of the Royal militia under Colonel 
William Henry Mills. This Colonel Mills was a physician 
who had originally been in the revolutionarj^ movement, 
and had been a delegate to the Provincial Congress in 
1776, but had given in his adhesion at once to the British 
upon their success, and from that time became a deter- 
mined foe to the American cause. 

Hearing of the projected expedition down the river, a 
party of Whigs under the lead of James Gillespie collected 
at Beding's Fields, afterward Irby's Mills, three miles from 
Cheraw, and determined to surprise it. As they went on, 
their numbers increased, the command being assigned to 
Major Tristram Thomas. In the meantime, wdth the de- 
parture of the boats, McArthur retreated toward Black 
Creek. The Whigs fixed upon Hunt's Bluff, a point about 
twenty-five miles below Cheraw, between Darlington and 
Marlborough counties, for intercepting the expedition. A 
battery of wooden guns was hastily constructed and placed 
immediately on the bank in a sudden bend of the river. 
]n due season, as the slowly moving flotilla appeared, a 
most imposing demonstration was made by the gallant 
Thomas, and unconditional surrender demanded. The 
British authorities charge that there was absolute treachery 
on the part of the Loyal militia, who, they say, rose in 
mutiny upon Colonel Mills ; ^ the American accounts 
admit that it was not improbable that there was an under- 
standing with some of the leading men of the party.^ 

1 Steadman's Am. War, 201 ; Tarleton's Cdinpnir/ns, 08. 

2 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 13!); Memoirs of the War of 1776 
(Loe), 173 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 292 ; Gregg's Hist, of Old CheraicSf 
315. 



IN THE llEVOLLTIOX 647 

However this may liave been, no resistance was attempted, 
and the ca[)tnre was eifected. At the same time a huge 
boat coming u^) from Georgetown, well stored with neces- 
saries for Major McArthur's force, was seized for the use of 
the American army. Colonel Mills succeeded in getting 
away, and made his escape to Georgetown. The other 
new-made British officers of the militia with the rest of 
the party were taken prisoners. 

About tlie end of June Captain Ardesoif of the British 
navy arrived at Georgetown to carry Sir Henry Clinton's 
last proolaniation into effect, and invited the people to 
come in and swear allegiance to King George. jNIany of 
the inhabitants of that district complied. But there 
remained a portion of it stretching from the Santee to the 
Pee Dee, including the whole of the present county of 
Williamsburg and a part of Marion, into which the British 
arms had not penetrated. The inhabitants of this section, 
it may be remembered, were generally of Irish extraction, j \ 
and the Irish ever3'where were almost as united against^ ^ 
the Royal government as were the Scotch in its sup-' ' 
port. 

A public meeting was called to deliberate upon the criti- 
cal situation, and upon the course to be pursued in regard 
to Sir Henry Clinton's proclamation, especially as to Cap- 
tain Ardesoif's orders under it. Major John James, wlio 
had before commanded some of these people in the field, 
conspicuously so in Moultrie's fight at the Coosawhatchie 
the year before, and had represented them in the General 
Assembly, was chosen to go down to Georgetown and 
learn from Captain Ardesoif whether by his proclamation, 
carrying out Sir Henry Clinton's, it was really meant that 
they should be required to take up arms against their 
fellow-countrymeti. ^Nlajor James proceeded to George- 
town, in the plain garb of a country planter, and was 



648 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

introduced to the Captain at his lodgings a considerable 
distance from his ship. The Captain heard Major James 
with surprise and indignation tliat such an embassy should 
be sent to him, and promptly answered that "the sul)mis- 
sion must be unconditional." To an inqiiiry whether the 
inhabitants would not be allowed quietly to stay at home 
upon their jjlantations he replied, "Although you have 
rebelled against his Majesty, he offers you a free pardon ; 
you must take up ai-nis in sup[)ort of his cause." To 
Major James's suggestion that tlie people he came to 
represent would not submit on such terms, the Captain, 
irritated at his bold language, particularly at the word 
"represent," rej^lied, "You damned rebel, if you speak in 
such language, I will immediately order you to be hanged 
up to the yard-arm ! " The Ca[)tain was armed with a 
sword. Major James had none ; but perceiving what turn 
matters were likely to take, JMajor James seized the chair 
on which he was seated, brandished it in tlie face of Cap- 
tain Ardesoif, and making his retreat good through the 
back door of the house, mounted liis horse and made his 
escape into the country. The storj' narrated, however told 
or embellished, always concluded in tlie same way, " You 
must take up arms in support of his Majesty." Tliis inci- 
dent hastened the rise of Marion's brigade. Many of the 
people of Williamsburg had submitted and taken paroles, 
but they shuddered at the very thought of imbruing their 
hands in the blood of their countrymen. Besides this, 
two officers, Amos Gaskens and John Hamilton, liad been 
put over them whom they despised. The first because he 
was a thief, and the second because of his profanity and 
immorality.^ 

About this time news came of the approach of Gates ; 
a public meeting was held, and it was unanimously re- 
1 James's IJ^e of Marion, 45. 



IN THE IJ EVOLUTION 649 

solved to take up arms in ilefeiice of their country. iSIajor 
.hunes was chosen leader, and four companies were formed 
under their former captains : William McCottry, Henry 
Mouzon, John James (of the Lake), and John McCauley. 
IMouzon's company had been organized before. It con- 
sisted of seventy-five men previous to the fall of Charles- 
town, and to the honor of the company and of the 
community there had been but one Tory in it, and that 
was John Hamilton, just mentioned, a petty merchant of 
Kingstree, who had recently come from parts unknown. 
In the earlier part of the struggle he had been a decided 
Whig, but had turned Royalist and gone to Charlestown, 
from which he returned with a captain's commission in 
the British service.^ These four companies mustered about 
four hundred men. Two more companies, Witherspoon's 
and Thornly's, were added under Major Hugh Giles of 
Pee Dee. General Gates had now arrived on the con- 
fines of the State, and in a consultation held among these 
leaders it was agreed to send to him a request that he 
should appoint them a commander. 

Marion had, as we have seen, when he escaped the British 
on their advance into the interior, joined Baron De Kalb 
at Deep River, North Carolina. He had been well received 
by the Baron, who appears to have recognized at once his 
great merit, notwithstanding his uncouth garb and the 
ragged appearance of his party. But Gates could not 
conceive of military genius without military trappings, 
and gladly availing himself of an opportunity of getting 
lid of so unsoldierly a looking person, readily detached 
Marion at his request to proceed in advance into South 
('ai'oliiia, with orders to watch the motions of the enemy, 
furnish intelligence, and as we have seen to secure the 
boats on the rivers. Upon his coming into the State, he 
1 Ilist. of U'illi'unshur'j Church, 41-109. 



650 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was accepted as the commander of this bod}-, which, under 
liis lead, was to become famous. 

The Whigs were not idle, however, while awaiting the 
arrival of their new commander. They captured Gaskens 
and most of the officers appointed over them, and took post 
under Major James at the pass of Lynch's Creek, at With- 
erspoon's Ferry, four miles above its junction with the 
Great Pee Dee between the present counties of AVilliams- 
burg and Marion. The Tories on Lynch's Creek in the 
neighborhood of McCallam's Ferry, on the other hand, 
had about this time been giving great trouble. Matthew 
Bradley, Thomas Bradley, and John Roberts, respect- 
able citizens, were killed in their own houses. The mur- 
derers were headed b}' the two Harrisons before mentioned. 
Captain McCottry was now posted in advance of Wither- 
spoon's Ferry, at Indian Town, in what is now Williams- 
burg County. Colonel Tarleton, having learned of the 
Williamsburg meeting, crossing the country advanced at 
the head of seventy mounted militia and cavalry to sur- 
prise Major James. McCottr}^, receiving notice of this 
movement, sent back for reenforcement, but immediately 
marched his company of about fifty mounted men to give 
him battle. Tarleton, who had reached Kingston about 
dark on the 6th of August,^ learning of McCottry 's ad- 
vance, through the wife of Hamilton, whose report 
increased McCottry 's command, however, to five hundred 
men, retired at midnight. McCottry with his little band 
pursued the great British cavalry leader, but failed to 
overtake him. In this march Tarleton burned the settle- 
ment of Captain Mouzon, consisting of his residence 
and other houses, fourteen buildings in all, and posted 
thirty miles from Kingstree to Salem. At Salem Tarleton 
went to the house of Mr. James Bradley, disguised 
1 Hist, of WilUamshnnj Church, 48. 



IN THE llEVOLUTION 651 

as an American ofTicer, representing liimself as Colonel 
Washincfton. In tliis ilis^nise he drew from the aged 
patriot, who had been one of the original immigrants to 
Williamsburg, an unreserved statement of the feelings 
of the Whigs, and a detail of their plans for the defence 
of the countiy. Having gained his confidence, I'arleton 
then induced Mr. Bradley to conduct him across tlie 
swam[)s of Black River on his way to Camden. Having 
reached his camp, he threw off his disguise, avowed him- 
self Colonel Tarleton, and informed Mr. Bradley that he 
was his prisoner. Carrying him to Camden he put him 
in irons. There the old man was repeatedly carted to 
the gallows to see his fellow-patriots executed, and was 
threatened at each time that he would be the next 
victim.^ 

In the meantime Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Horry 
arrived from Geoi-getown with a small party. He de- 
clined for some time the command over Major James, 
to which his rank entitled him ; but upon assuming it, 
he on all occasions animated the men by his gallantry 
and persevering patriotism. ^ 

On the 10th of August Marion arrived at the post of 
Lynch's Creek, and took command of the party there 
and of the large extent of the country on tlie east side 
of the Santee.^ He was accompanied by Major Peter 
Horr3% Major John Vanderhorst, Captains Lewis Ogier 
and James Theus, and Captain John Milton of Georgia.* 
J-Ie was a stranger to the oflicers and men, and they 

* Hist, of \Villiamshur{/ Church, 40. 

2 Kainsay's So. Ca., vol. II, 404 ; James's Life of Marion, 45. 

' Judf^e James speaks of Marion as "General," and states that lie was 
commissioned by Governor Hntlediio. IJnt this is a mistake. Governor 
Kntledu'e was still in I'hiladelpliia. tryinj^ to get assistance from Congress. 
Marion was not eonunissioncd General until the October following. 

* Ramsay's So. Ca., vol. II, 404. 



652 HISTOllY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

gathered around to obtain a sight of their new com- 
mander. 

Marion was soon on the move. On the second day- 
after his arrival, that is, on the 12th of August, phxcing 
white cockades upon his men to distinguish them from 
the Tories, he crossed the Pee Dee at Port's Ferry to dis- 
perse a Large body, under Major Gainey, stationed on 
Britton's Neck between the Great and Little Pee Dee 
rivers. Pie surprised them at dawn in the morning, 
killed one of their captains and several privates, and 
had two men wounded. Major James was detached at 
the head of a volunteer troop of horse to attack the Tory 
horse. He came up with them, charged, and drove them 
before him. In this affair he singled out Major Gainey 
as the object of his own attack. At his approach Gainey 
fled, and James pursued him closely, nearly within the 
reach of his sword, for half a mile, when behind a thicket 
he came upon a party of Tories who had rallied. Not 
at all intimidated, but with great presence of mind. Major 
James called out: '"Come on, my boys! Here they 
are ! Here they are ! " And the whole body of Tories 
broke again and rushed into the swamp. Another party 
of Tories lay higher up the river, under the command of 
Captain Barfield, who had been a soldier in one of the 
South Carolina regiments. These stood to their ranks, 
and were so resolute that Marion hesitated to attack on 
such equal terms ; feigning, therefore, a retreat, he led 
them into an ambuscade, where they were defeated. 
This was his first manoeuvre of the kind, for which he 
afterwards became so conspicuous.^ 

To the list of eufracfements recorded in the last two 
chapters two more are now added, and the record for 
the month commencing the 12th of July and ending the 
1 James's Life of Marion, 40. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 653 

12th of August now stood thus : Williamson's Plantation, 
York, Huck's defeat, 12th of July; Cedar Spring, Spartan- 
burg, 13th of July ; Earle's Ford, Pacolet River, Spartan- 
burg, 14th of July ; McDowell's Camp, Spartanburg, 15th 
of July; Flat Rock, Lancaster, 20th of July; Thicketty 
Fort, Spartanburg, 30th of July; Rocky Mount, Chester, 
1st of August ; Hanging Rock, Lancaster, 1st of August ; 
Hunt's Bluff, Darlington, 1st of August; Hanging Rock, 
Lancaster, Gth of August ; Old Iron Works, Spartanburg, 
7th of August; Port's Ferry, Williamsburg, 12th of August. 
In these twelve engagements about three hundred British 
and Tories had been killed and wounded, and about two 
hundred taken prisoners, at a loss of not half that num- 
ber to the Americans.^ These battles had been fought by 
the volunteers of North and South Carolina and Georgia, 
who rose up in the path of the conqueror and held him 
at bay while the Continental army was slowly making its 
way through the sands of North Carolina. 

The field had thus been thoroughly prepared for Gates's 
advance with the Continentals for which Congress had 
been asked. The people in South Carolina had not waited 
for his approach. They had themselves risen, and with- 
out waiting for arms or organization, or even commissions 
under which to fight, they liad formed volunteer parties, 
chosen their leaders for the occasion, and in twelve engage- 
ments during the month from the 12th of July to the 12th 
of August, had driven in the enemy's outposts and had 
established an impromptu line from Georgetown on the 
coast to tlie foot of the Blue Ridge in Spartanburg. Mar- 
ion had established a camp on the Pee Dee, threatening the 
British right; Sumter and Davie were on their fi-ont from 
Lynch's Creek to the Catawba, and from the Catawba to 

' Exact numbers cannot be stated, as in some instances the number of 
casualties is not to be ascertained. 



654 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAIIOLINA 

the Broad ; while McDowell and Shelb}'^ and Sevier and 
Clarke were pressing in on their left. Everywhere these 
partisan bands had been successful. True, they had 
achieved no great victories, but they had crossed their 
swords and ba3'onets with British regulars and Tory 
Provincials, and held their own. They had tested their 
own courage and capacity, and could now trust to them- 
selves with confidence. They had also found leaders who 
were developing military genius and enterprise. They 
had, in fact, already supplied the great want of the army 
advancing to their succor, that of light cavalry, to beat up 
the quarters of the enemy, to uncover his positions and 
communications, and ascertain his strength and his re- 
sources. All this preliminary work of an invading army 
Gates would find already accomplished as he entered the 
State. Everything was auspicious to a decisive and brill- 
iant victory, — by the hero of Saratoga, — if, indeed. Gates 
was really entitled to the laurels accorded to him for that 
glorious achievement. 



1 



CHAPTER XXX 

1780 

It will be recollected that General Duportail had in- 
formed Lincoln on his arrival in Charlestown that Con- 
gress liad proposed to General Washington to send the 
Maryland line to his relief, but that this had not been 
decided upon when he left Philadelphia on the 3d of 
April. ^ The proposition appears to have come from Wash- 
ington to Congress, rather than from Congress to him.^ It 
was not until the 17th of April that the division marched 
for Charlestown. To the Maryland line were attached the 
Delaware regiment, and the First Regiment of artillery 
with eight field-pieces, besides those attached to the bri- 
gades.'' This force was under the command of Baron De 
Kalb, whom Washington had sent in advance to Philadel- 
phia to have everything in readiness to move as soon as 
Congress should give its consent. 

Baron De Kalb, though a native of German)'-, from his 
long service in the armies of France cannot but be con- 
sidered a Frenchman, especially as it appears that during 
the entire period of his holding an American commission 
he continued a pensioner of that government, and as in the 
case of Duportail was one of its most indefatigable agents. 
During the year 1767 he had visited the colonies of Great 
Britain, by the direction of the Court of France, to ascer- 

* So. Ca. in the licrnhition (Siniins), 135. 
2 Washington's Writinys, vol. VI, 7. 
» Ibid., 7,20. 

G55 



656 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tain the points in which they were the most vulnerable, 
and to discern how far it was practicable to generate dis- 
satisfaction, to excite jealousy against the mother country, 
and to arouse a desire of independence. He had been 
engaged in 1776 by Silas Deane to serve in the American 
army, and with Lafayette had arrived in April, 1777, at 
North Island, Winyaw Bay, near Georgetown, in South 
Carolina. Landing near the plantation of Major Ben- 
jamin Huger, — who fell afterwards, as has been seen, dur- 
ing Provost's invasion, — they were cordially received by 
him upon their announcing themselves, hospitably enter- 
tained, and, anxious to reach their destination, were sent 
to Charlestown in Major Iluger's own conveyance, and 
thence made their way to Washington. Having been 
appointed a Major General by Congress, he took part in 
the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and after 
spending the winter at Valley Forge he had served in 
New Jersey.^ 

By great exertions the detachment had been put upon 
the march, and after moving through Jerse}' and Pennsyl- 
vania they were embarked at the head of the Elk and were 
conveyed by water to Petersburg, Virginia, whence they 
proceeded by land. Charlestown had fallen before De 
Kalb had passed through the State of Virginia. Indeed, 
it was not until the 20th of June that he entered North 
Carolina, and then he halted at Hillsboro to rest his weary 
troops.^ His advance had been retarded by various diffi- 
culties, the most important of which was want of provi- 
sions. This had been especially the case since his arrival 
in North Carolina. The legislative or executive power, he 
complained, gave him no assistance, nor could he obtain 

1 Garden's Anecdotes, 211 ; 3Iemoirs of the War of 2776 (Lee), Ap- 
pendix D, 575. 

2 No. Co., 1780-81 (Schenck), 50. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 657 

supplies from the people but by military force. There 
was no flour in the camp, nor was attempt made to furiiisli 
any. His troops were reduced for a time to short allow- 
ance, and at length on the 6th of July brought to a posi- 
tive halt at Coxe's Mills on Deep River but a few miles 
beyond Hillsboro.^ 

The militia of North Carolina embodied under General 
Caswell were preparing to join the Baron on his route, 
while Brigadier General Stevens with some militia from 
Virginia was hastening also to the appointed rendezvous. 
Caswell and Stevens had been selected in consequence of 
past services. Caswell had early in the war given unques- 
tionable proofs of his decision, zeal, and activity by the 
gallant stand he had made in 1776 at Moore's Bridge 
against a superior force, which terminated in the complete 
discomfiture of the Royalists and the consequent suppres- 
sion of a formidable opposition to the new government. 
He had been the first Governor of the State of North 
Carolina. General Stevens had commanded a Continen- 
tal regiment during the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, and 
fought under Washington in all the battles of those years, 
very much respected as a brave, vigorous, and judicious 
ofiicer. Neither of these bodies, however, had yet formed 
a junction witli the Continental army under De Kalb, 
which did not exceed fifteen hundred men, including 
Armand's dragoons and three companies of Harrison's 
regiment of artillery. Lieutenant Colonel Porterfield 
with his command of four hundred Virginians was still 
on the confines of South Carolina. While De Kalb was 
at Buffalo Ford on Deep River deliberating as to the line 
of his march, he received news of measures adopted by 
Congress for the Southern campaign.^ 

1 Life of Washington (Irving), vol. IV, 91. 

2 Bancroft, V, .384. 

VOL. HI. — 2 U 



658 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Washington had desired General Nathan ael Greene to 
succeed Lincohi in command; but Congress not asking 
his advice, nor ignorant of his opinion, on the 13th of 
June unanimously appointed Gates, the hero of Saratoga, 
who liad been the centre of all the cabals and intrigues 
against the Commander-in-chief, to the independent com- 
mand of the Southern arm3^ Gates received his orders 
from Congress, and was to make his reports directly to 
that body, lie was authorized to address himself directly 
to Virginia and the States beyond it for supplies, to ap- 
point all staff officers, and to take such measures as he 
should think most proper for the defence of the South.^ 
It has been seen how Lincoln, his second in command at 
Saratoga, had failed in this department. He came now 
full of confidence in his ability to recover the State which 
Lincoln had lost. On his way through Petersburg it is 
said that General Charles Lee, who had himself tried the 
effect of the Southern climate upon the flowers of an 
adventurer's ambition, called after him on parting, to be- 
ware lest his Northern laurels should turn into Southern 
willows. But no such doubt crossed the mind of the man 
who believed himself superior to Washington, and who 
hesitated at no course, however dishonorable, to secure 
the opportunity of demonstrating it to the world. 

Gates arrived and superseded De Kalb on the 25th of July. 
He at once ordered the troops to be prepared to march at a 
moment's warning. It had been De Kalb's purpose to move 
by the way of Salisbury and Charlotte through the fertile 
and friendly counties of Rowan and jNIecklenburg ; but 
Gates, on the morning of the 27th of July, put what he 
called the " Grand Army " on its march by the shortest 
route to Camden through the sand hill region of North 
Carolina, a belt of " pine barren " as it is called, which com- 
1 Bancroft, V, 384. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 659 

menoiiicf in Viminia extends tlirouo-h North and South 
Carolina into Georgia, — a country Avhich then could 
offer no food but lean cattle, fruit, and unripe Indian corn, 
— a route which caused him to pass through the neighbor- 
hood of Cross Creek, the region most unfriendly to the 
American cause. This course he adopted against the 
wishes and advice of the principal officers of his army 
presented to him in a memorial. He crossed the Pee Dee 
at Mask's Ferry in North Carolina on the 3d of August, 
making a junction on its southern bank with Lieutenant 
Colonel Potterfield, who had found it difficult, in this 
region, to subsist even his small command. 

Colonels White and Washington, after the fall of 
Charlestown, had retired into North Carolina to recruit 
their regiments, which had suffered so severely at Monck's 
Corner and at Lenuds's Ferry; they now solicited Gates 
to assist their efforts by the aid of his authority, so as to 
enable them to advance w^ith him to the theatre of action ; 
hut Gates paid no attention to this request, and thus 
deprived himself of the most active corps belonging to the 
Sonthern army. Indeed, he did not conceal his opinion 
that he held the cavalry in the Southern field in no estima- 
tion.^ lie had promised, when setting out upon the march, 
that plentifnl supplies of rum and rations were on the 
route and would overtake them in a day or two ; and when 
tiiese provisions failed, other promises w'ere as recklessly 
made. The expectation founded on assurances of finding 
a plentiful supply of provisions at a place known as May's 
Mills, says Colonel Williams, the adjutant general to his 
ainiy,^ induced the troops again to obey with cheerful- 
ness the order to march ; but again disappointed, fatigued, 

1 Colonel ^Villialns's narrative, Life of Greene (Johnson), Appendix 
H, r.0<). 

2/tK/.,488. 



660 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and almost famished, their patience forsook them ; mutiny- 
was ready to manifest itself, and the most unhappy conse- 
quences were apprehended ; but regimental officers going 
among the men and remonstrating with them appeased 
their murmurs, for which unhappily there was too much 
cause. The officers by appealing to their own empty 
canteens and mess cases satisfied the rank and file that all 
suffered alike, and exhorting them to exercise the fortitude 
of which they gave the example, assured them that the 
best means of alleviating the present distress should be 
immediately adopted ; and that if the supplies expected 
by the General did not arrive very soon, detachments would 
be sent from each corps in all directions to pick up what 
grain might possibly be found in the country and brought 
to the mill. Fortunately, at May's Mill, a small quantity 
of Indian corn was brought into camp. The mill was set 
to work, and as soon as a mess of meal was ground it was 
delivered out to the men, and all were served in the course 
of a few hours. More poor cattle were sacrificed, tlie 
camp settlements all engaged, the men were busy but 
silent until they had eaten, and tlien all was again content, 
cheerfulness, and mirth. It was as astonishing as it was 
pleasing, says Colonel Williams, to observe the transition. 

The General and field officers were not the first served 
upon this occasion, nor were they generally the most satis- 
fied; but as no one could suggest the means of immediate 
redress, no remonstrances took place with the commanding 
officer. Gates, however, was well informed of what was 
passing in camp and the critical disi)Osition of the troops. 

Colonel Otho Williams in his admirable narrative has 
loyally endeavored to explain the extraordinary adventuie 
of his chief across the sand hills of this region of North 
and South Carolina, which then nearly resembled a desert, 
and has given the reason for his course as assigned by 



I 



IN THE REVOLUTION 661 

Gates himself. He says that Gates, impressed by a sense 
of difficulties and perhaps conceiving himself in some 
degree accountable to the army for the steps he had 
taken, infornuHl him that he had in a measure been forced 
to take the route he had followed ; that General Caswell 
had evaded every order which had been sent to him, as 
well by the Baron De Kalb as by himself, to form a 
junction of the militia with the regular corps ; that it 
appeared .to him that Caswell's vanity was gratified by 
having a separate command ; that probably he contem- 
[)lated some enterprise to distinguish himself and gratify 
his ambition, which, said Gates, " I should not be sorry to 
see checked by a rap on the knuckles, if it were not that 
the militia would disperse and leave their handful of brave 
men without even nominal assistance." He urged further 
that it was the more necessary to counteract the indiscre- 
tion of Caswell and save him from disaster, as he then com- 
manded the only corps of militia that were embodied in 
the Carolinas ; that the assurances he had received from 
the executive of North Carolina gave him cause to suspect 
that supplies of provisions had been forwarded and used 
in profusion in Caswell's camp, notwithstanding intima- 
tions had been communicated to him that the militia were 
in as bud a situation in that respect as the regular corps. 

This suspicion of insubordination in his own officers, and 
of their desire to eclipse and supplant him, is not to be 
wondered at in one who had spent so much of his own 
time in endeavoring to subvert the influence and fame of 
Wiishington and to supersede him as Commander-in-chief. 

Gates urged also that having marched thus far directly 
toward the eneni}', a retrograde or indirect movement would 
not only dispirit the troops, but intimidate the people of the 
country, many of whom had come in with arms. Danger- 
ous as deceptions hud been, it was still thought expedient 



662 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to flatter the expectation of the soldiery with an abun- 
dance of provisions as soon as a junction could be formed 
with the militia. After collecting therefore all the corn 
which was to be found in the neighborhood of May's 
Mill, and saving all the meal that could be spared from 
their present necessities, the march was resumed toward 
Camden. 1 

As he crossed the State line General Gates issued a 
proclamation from the Pee Dee on the 4th of August, 
inviting the patriotic citizens of South Carolina to as- 
semble under his auspices to vindicate the riglits of 
America, holding out amnesty to all who had subscribed 
paroles imposed upon them by the ruffian hand of con- 
quest, excepting only those who in the hour of trial had 
exercised acts of barbarity and devastation upon the per- 
sons and property of their fellow-citizens.^ But the 
patriots of the State had not awaited his tedious approach, 
nor were his bombastic woids necessary to stimulate their 
zeal. They had already arisen under their own leaders, 
and had driven in the enemy's outposts, and cleared his 
front for the blow which he was to give. Fortunately for 
the cause, their fate was not to be entirely committed to 
his keeping. Their own chosen leaders were to keep up 
the war, after he had failed and fled, as they had kindled 
and kept it alive before he came. 

When Gates passed the boundary line of South Caro- 
lina, the British i)ost at Hanging Rock was abandoned and 
Loi'd Rawdon took position on the west brancli of Lynch's 
Creek about fourteen miles from Camden, that is, within 
the present county of Kershaw. His force here consisted 
of the Twenty-third, Thirty-third, and Seventy-first regi- 

1 Appendix to Johnson's Life of Greene, 489-400. 

2 Ramsay's Eevululion of So. Ca., vol. II, 145, 449-451; Tarleton's 
Campaigns, 98. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 663 

inents of infantry, the volunteers of Ireland, Lieutenant 
Colonel Hamilton's Provincial corps, about forty dragoons 
of tlie Legion, and four pieces of cannon. The hospital, 
the baggage, the provisions, the ammunition, and the 
stores remained under a weak guard at Camden.^ 

On the 7th of August the junction at last took place 
between Caswell, with his North Carolina militia, and 
Gates's Continental army. This junction was effected at 
the Cross Roads in what is now Chesterfield County, 
east of the east branch of L3'nch's Creek, and fifteen 
miles east of the enemy's post.^ 

The spirits of both were greatly enlivened by the event. 
Tlie militia were relieved fi'om the apprehension of an 
attack under which they had been for some time ; while 
the regulars exulted in the confidence with which they 
liad inspired their new comrades. The army was formed 
into two divisions. Baron De Kalb commanded the regu- 
lars, which constituted the right wing, and General Cas- 
well the North Carolina militia, which constituted the 
l(;ft. In this order they marched a few miles toward the 
enemy and encamped for the night. 

Colonel Williams tells that on the first night after the 
junction, having much anxiety as adjutant general to 
observe the guards, he went with Lieutenant Colonel 
Ford, the officer of the day, at an unusual hour to inspect 
tlie lines. The guards and sentinels on the right wing 
were found as usual attentive, and hailed the visiting 
rounds with an alaciity and s[)irit which inspired confi- 
dence and security in that quarter; but in the left wing 
all was tranquil. The officers patrolled around the en- 
campment without being once hailed, and then rode into 

' Tarleton's Cauipaigns, 00. 

2 Uainsay's I{eviihUi(in of So. Ca.. vol. IT, 14.') ; Williams's narrative, 
Appendix to Johnsou's Life of Greene, vol. I, 490. 



664 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the lines and among the tents, and even approached the 
marquees of some of the general and field officers — one of 
whom complained of being disturbed, and intimated that 
it was an unreasonable hour for gentlemen to call. The 
officers of the day were sent for, and guards and patrols 
w-ere sent out to secure the encampment from surprise. 
General Gates was now closely approaching the enemy ; 
but his troops still subsisted upon precarious supplies of 
corn meal and lean beef, of which they often did not re- 
ceive a ration per day, and no possibility existed of doing 
better without abandoning the route in which he had 
pertinaciously persisted. To have turned aside to the 
fertile fields of Black River, would have been leaving the 
garrison of Camden between liim and tlie expected reen- 
forcement from Virginia under General Stevens. Besides 
this, hopes were still held out of considerable reenforce- 
ment from North Carolina in a few days. On the otlier 
hand, an abundant supply of provisions could be obtained 
in the AVaxhaws settlement ; but to reach it would require 
two or three days' march, and the movement would have 
the appearance of retreating before the enemj^ as it lay 
so much out of the way. There was no decision. There 
was hesitation. The army continued its march uncon- 
scious of what step was next to be taken. Gates, having 
refused the assistance of the dragoons of White and Wash- 
ington, having got rid of IMarion and failed to use Sum- 
ter, now began to perceive the danger of approaching an 
enemy of whose numbers he had no intelligence. Strange 
to say, also, he was encumbered with an enormous train, 
and a multitude of women and not a few children. An 
effoi't was therefore made to get rid of some of the impedi- 
ments. A detachment under Major Deane and a numl)er 
of wagons were detailed to convoy to Charlotte all the 
heavy baggage and as many of the women as could be 



IN THE REVOLUTION 665 

driven from the line ; many of the latter, however, pre- 
ferred sharing every toil and every danger with the sol- 
diery to the security and provisions which were promised 
them. The aimy advanced ; but upon approaching the 
enemy's post on Little Lynch's Creek it Avas discovered to 
be situated on the west side of the water on commanding 
ground, and to be very formidable. It was necessary, 
therefore, to depart from the shortest route to the enemy's 
principal outpost, Camden, which he had boasted it was 
liis intent to hold to. The army detUed by the right, and 
C(»h)nel Ilall of jNIaryland with a detachment of three 
hundred men covered the left until it was out of danger 
from surprise, and then formed the rear-guard. This 
manoeuvre on the 11th of August induced Lord Rawdon 
to retire witii some precipitation to Camden.^ 

While the two armies were facing each other at Lynch's 
Creek, Lord Rawdon sent to Lieutenant Colonel Cruger at 
Ninety-Six to forward to Camden without loss of time the 
four companies of light infantry under Captain Charles 
Campbell. He directed the troops at Rugeley's Mills to 
quit their position. Major Carden from Hanging Rock 
with the detachment of Browne's regiment, which had been 
engaged in the fight on the Gth, was ordered to Camden, 
and the Legion Lifantry under Captain Stewart were 
desired to find the most direct road from their present 
situation to Lynch's Creek. A guide conducted Captain 
Stewart to the outposts of General Gates's army; a warm 
salutation from the picket discovered the mistake. Lord 
Rawdon withdrew the corps from Rugeley's Mills because 
of its exposed situation, and for the same reason he ordered 
Lieutenant Colonel TurnljuU to evacuate Rocky Mount and 
to join Colonel Ferguson at his position on Little River.^ 

1 Williams's narrative, Appendix to Johnson's Life of Greene, -491. 
* Tarleton's Campaigns, 100. 



666 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

On the 9tli of August two expresses arrived in Charles- 
town, bringing to Lord C'ornwullis the information that 
Gates was advancing from North Carolina toward Lynch's 
Creek with an army supposed to amount to six thousand 
men, exclusive of one tliousand under Sumter, who, after 
having in vain attempted to force the posts at Rocky iNIount 
and Hanging Rock, was believed at that time to be moving 
round the left of the British position to cut off his commu- 
nication with the Congaree and Charlestown; that the dis- 
affected country between the Pee Dee and Black rivers had 
revolted, and that Lord Rawdon was contracting his posts 
and preparing to assemble his force at Camden. Upon this 
Lord Cornwallis, after finishing some important business, 
set out on the evening of the 10th, and arrived at Camden 
in tlie night between the 13th and Idth, and there found 
Lord Rawdon with all his force. 

As Lord Rawdon had retired. Gates had advanced, and 
on the 13th had encamped at Colonel Rugeley's place, 
Clermont. Brigadier General Stevens arrived with his 
Virginians on the 14th, and encamped with the rest of the 
army. General Stevens had brought a reenforcement of 
men, but no provisions to support them except a few articles 
of West India produce, principally molasses. No effort 
was made to collect supplies more than to serve from day 
to day. The obscure route by which the arm}' liad marched 
kept their friends ignorant of the movement, and Gates's 
arrival at Clermont was indeed more of a surprise to the 
Whigs than to the Tories. It was justly supposed that 
if Gates had taken a secure position with his army, and 
waited only a few days, abundance of provisions would 
have flowed into his camp, and a large addition of volun- 
teers under the leaders Avho had already shown their cour- 
age and capacity would liave been made to his force — an 
addition which would have made his army superior to that 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 667 

of the British. But vain confidence in his own prowess 
and reckless credulity prevailed over all sober counsels. 
On the day of the arrival of Stevens, a citizen of Camden 
came as if by accident into the American encampment and 
was taken to Gates's headquarters. This individual affected 
ignorance of the approach of the Americans, pretended 
very great friendship for his countrymen, the Marylanders, 
and promised the General to be out again in a few days, 
with all the information the General wished to obtain. 
The information which he then gave was the truth, but 
not all the truth, which events afterwards revealed; yet so 
plausible was his manner that Gates dismissed him with 
many promises if he would faithfully observe his engage- 
ment.' The suspicions of the officers about headquarters 
were aroused, but the General's confidant was allowed to 
go without restraint; and he went doubtless to Lord Corn- 
wallis with a full report not only of Gates's strength, but of 
an important move Sumter was about to make. 

It happened at this time that a convoy with clothing, 
arms, and other stores for the troops at Camden was on 
its way from Charlestown. The news of Marion's appear- 
ance on the Pee Dee had diverted the march of the escort 
and wagons fi-om the road by the way of Nelson's Ferry 
over the Santee to the higher route by way of McCord's 
Ferry over the Congaree. Sumter, having intelligence of 
this, and that the escojt must necessarily pass the Watei'ee 
at a ferry about a mile from Camden, under cover of a 
small redoubt on the other side of the river under the 
command of Colonel Carey, informed General Gates and 
requested a small reenforcement of infantry and two small 
pieces of artillery to join the volunteei-s, promising to 
intercept the convoy. General Gates not only approved 
the expedition and furnished the detachment, but appar- 

^ Williams's narrative, Appendix to Johnson's Life of Greene, 491. 



6G8 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ently subordinated the movements of his army to its suc- 
cess. He detailed four hundred Continental regulars, a 
party of artillery with two brass field-pieces under Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Woolford, to join Sumter. The moment 
the detachment under VV\)olford joined Sumter, he put his 
command under march for Camden Ferry. Near the break 
of day of the 15th he found himself advanced undiscovered 
to within a few miles of Carey's Fort. A strong detach- 
ment of his men under Colonel Thomas Taylor was at 
once pushed forward to gain the rear of this fort and cut 
off the retreat of Carey's detachment, to prevent its form- 
ing a junction with the convoying party. Taylor ap- 
•proached with such caution and silence as to find Carey's 
pai'ty wholly unconscious of the danger that awaited 
them. The opportunity was favorable, and he improved 
it by so sudden and impetuous an attack that the whole 
party surrendered without any serious opposition. Seven 
of the British were killed and thirty taken prisoners.^ 
Learning from them that the convoy was at no great 
distance in the rear, and equally unapprehensive of danger, 
Taylor immediately advanced upon it. The similitude of 
his appearance with the homespun dresses of the Loyalists 
excited no apprehension in the convoying party until they 
found themselves surrounded, and seventy more prisoners 
were secured.^ With the prizes he had secured Sumter 
at once conmienced a retreat up the western side of the 
Wateree, or Catawba, as the river is called beyond 
Camden. 

Gates does not appear to have had any conception of 
the promptness and rapidity of Sumter's movements, and 
did not expect that his attack upon Carey's Fort and the 
convoy would take place until the next day, the IGth, 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 148 (Sumter's letter). 

2 Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 669 

when it was his intention to attract the attention of the 
British at Camden by a disphiy of liis own army in their 
front.' Accordinii^ly, on the loth, unaware of Sumter's 
already achieved success, he issued orders that the troops 
slionkl be ready to march at ten o'clock that night. The 
profoundest silence was enjoined, and it was ordered that 
if any soldier should fire without the command of his 
officer, he must be instantly put to death. By the order 
of march at the head of the cohunn was placed Ai-mand's 
Legion. Armand was one of the many French gentlemen 
who joined the American army. His officers were gener- 
ally foreign, and the soldiers not even as good as those of 
Pulaski — indeed, they were chiefly deserters. It was the 
last corps in the army which should have been intrusted 
with such a position.^ To make matters worse, Gates, 
while putting this corps in the position of honor, made 
the furtiier blunder of expressing his distrust by the very 
terms of the order which assigned them to it. Colonel 
Porterfield's light infantry was to march upon the right 
flank of Colonel Armand in Indian, that is in single, 
file, two hundred yards from the road; Major Armstrong's 
light infantry in the same order as Colonel Ptirterfield's, 
upon the left flank of the Legion. The order then went 
on to direct: "In case of an attack by the enemy's cavalry 
in front, the light infantry upon each flank will instantly 
move up and give and continue the most galling fire upon 
the enemy's horse. This will enable Colonel Armand not 
only to support the shock of the enemy's charge, but finally 
to rout them ; the Colonel will therefore consider the order 
to atand the attacks of the enemy's cavalry, he their number 
what they may, as positive." Having arranged the order 
in which the other troo[)S were to follow, the order dij-ected 

1 Williams's narrative, Apppiidix to Jdliiison's Life of Greene, 492. 
' Memoira of the ]V'ir of 1770 (Lee), 181, note. 



670 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

*' when the ground will admit of it, and the near approach 
of tlie enemy renders it necessary, the army will (when 
ordered) march in columns." 

After preparing the order, the General showed it to 
Colonel Williams, his adjutant general, showing him at 
the same time a rough estimate of the forces under his 
command, making them upward of seven thousand. Gates 
appears to have had no returns made previous to setting out 
on the march, and his estimate was doubted by Colonel 
Williams, who had the prudence, while summoning the 
general officers to a council to be held in Rugeley's barn, 
to call also upon the commanding officers of the different 
corps for a field return ; and as he was not required to 
attend the council, he busied himself in collecting these 
returns, and forming an abstract for the General's better 
information. This abstract was presented to Gates as the 
council broke up, immediately as he came to the door. 
Casting his eyes upon the numbers of rank and file j^t'esent 
for duty which was exactly tliree thousand and fifty-two^ he 
said that there were no less than thirteen general officers 
in council, and observed something about the dispropor- 
tion between the number of officers and privates. Colonel 
Williams appears to have pressed upon his attention the 
difference between the actual returns and tlie estimate he 
had formed, to Avhich Gates replied, " There are enough 
for our purpose;" and without saying what that purpose 
was, went on to observe " there was nd dissenting voice in 
the council where the orders have just been read." The 
orders he directed to be published to the army. 

Though there had been no dissent in the council, the 
orders were no sooner promulgated than they became the 
subject of animadversion. It was said by some that there 
liad been no consultation ; that the orders were read to 
them, but all opinion suppressed by the very positive and 



IK THE REVOLUTION 671 

decided terms in which they were expressed. Others coukl 
not imagine how it coukl be conceived that an army con- 
sisting of more than two-thirds militia, which had never 
been once exercised in arms together, could form columns 
and perform other mantvuvres in the night and in the face 
of an enemy. But of all the officers. Colonel Armand took 
the greatest exception. He regarded the terms of the 
order in wliich he was directed to consider his instructions 
to stand the attack of the enemy's cavalry as positive as 
an implied doubt of his courage. He very properly, also, 
objected to the order itself, declaring that cavalry had 
never before been put in front of a line of battle in the 
dark, and went so far as to charge that he was to be put in 
this false position by Gates from his resentment on account 
of an altercation which had taken place between them on 
their way tlHH)Ugli the wilderness. There was a good deal 
more discussion, says Williams, but the time was short, 
and the officers and soldiers generally, neither knowing or 
believing any more than the General that any considerable 
body of the enemy were to be met with out of Camden, 
acquiesced, and with their usual cheerfulness were ready 
to march at the appointed hour. 

Gates has been criticised for weakening his army, though 
in striking distance of his foe, by detaching to Sumter the 
400 men under Colonel Woolford ; ^ but his error was 
more fundamental. It was in his unpardonable ignorance 
of tlie actual number of men under his command. If he 
had had moi'e than 7000, as he had estimated his strength 
before complying with Sumter's requisition, it would not 
have been an unwise disposition. And as it was, Sumter's 
advance down the west bank of the Wateree in connection 
witli Marion's a[)pearance on the Pee Dee had the effect 
of forcing Cornwallis's movements. His lordship reported 
1 Memoirs of the War of 177 G (Lcc), 179, 



672 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

that on liis arrival in Camden lie found himself in a posi- 
tion in which he was obliged to act at once. He must 
either retreat or at once assume tlie offensive. The position 
of Camden was untenable. Sumter liad cut him off from 
his supplies, and liis provisions on hand must have failed 
in a few days. He saw no difficulty in making good his 
retreat to Charlestown with the troops that were able to 
march ; but in adopting that course he must have left 
nearly 800 sick and a great quantity of stores at Camden, 
and he clearly saw in that event the loss of the whole 
province except Charlestown, as immediate consequences, 
besides forfeiting all pretensions to future confidence from 
their adherents in this part of America. On the other 
hand, he accepted the account, probably brought him by 
(iates's confiding friend, tliat the rebel army was upwards 
of 5000 men, exclusive of Sumter's detachment and a corps 
of Virginia militia of 1200 or 1500 men, who had either 
actually joined or expected to join the main body every 
hour. His own strength he counted at about 1100 figlit- 
inof men of regulars and Provincials, with 400 or 500 militia 
and North Carolina refugees. What he lacked, however, in 
numbers, he confidently assumed was counterbalanced by 
the excellent character of his troops, who were veterans. 
Charlestown he had left sufficiently garrisoned and pro- 
vided for siege, and seeing little to lose by a defeat and 
much to gain by a victory, Cornwallis determined at once 
to attack. He l)ad ascertained that Gates after marching 
from Hanging Rock had encamped at Colonel Kugeley's, 
about twelve miles from Camden, on the afternoon of the 
14th ; and later, in the evening of the 15th, he received 
information tliat the Virginians had joined Gates that 
day. But this did not alter his determination. At ten 
o'clock he marched, leaving the defence of Camden to some 
Provincial militia and convalescents, and a detachment of 
the Sixty-third Regiment. 



PLATS' 

of Uw Battle 

FOLrGHTNEAR Camden.! 






tC 



tL J_i*#it,. 1 



ttnr KlUfliih MUr . 




as^'i -------- M= vi • .* 






^DER^IOF BATTLE .^--^ 







-.:■- ^ rim \ nviU 



_ , ",^;i#n'' 



^-?!^,..|j;;r| 



i\^*"v-i-- 





(|i I'tol'i'iv/icrji. 

II /. rfirre fbitt/tnuirj! L Vi hiffuit'. 
jj i JJil.Krifi'mnit 

j! .1. jjrf. J, Wo. 

■•■, . //^ ->■ /"ro'i'i-j tfflhr a.i/.l^ion 



IN TFIE ItEVOLl'TIOX 673 

It thus happened Uuat both armies, ignorant of each 
other's intentions, moved about the same hour of the same 
night. But tliere was tliis difference, — Gates was advanc- 
ing without any determined purpose of bringing on an 
engagement, but rather of making a demonstration to draw 
off attention from Sumter's movement, which curiously had 
then ah-eady been successfulh' accomplished, and had itself 
actually set Cornwallis in motion ; while, on the other 
hand, Cornwallis was advancing, despite of it, bent upon 
forcing Gates to battle. The armies approaching each 
other with these different views met halfway sometime 
after midniMit^ on the morninor of the 16th of August. 

o o o 

In the advance of Gates's column rode Armand, burn^ 
ing with resentment, at the head of his unreliable corps, 
while Tarleton's dragoons led Cornwallis's march. The 
collision of these advanced guards was the revelation to 
each army of the presence of the other. Upon the colli- 
sion both advanced parties recoiled. The officer command- 
ing the detachment of the British Legion Avas wounded, 
and the detachment gave way. On the American side, 
some of Armand's cavalry were wounded and retreated; 
and in their retreat threw the whole of the rest of his 
corps into disorder, and these, recoiling suddenl}^ on the 
front of the column of infantry, threw the first Maryland 
brigade into confusion. Upon the giving way of the 
Legion the Britisii line was promptly restored by the light 
infantry of the Twenty-third and Thirty-third regiments, 
under Lieutenant Colonel Webster, who commanded the 
front division of the King's troops.^ The disorder caused 
by the retreat of Armand's cavalry was not as easily reme- 

' Cornwallis puts the liour at 2.30 a.m., Tarleton's Campaigns, 131 ; 
Colonel Williani.s "at uiidnight," Johnson's Life of Greene, Appendix, 
404. 

2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 104. 

VOL. III. — 2 X 



674 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLIXA 

died; it occasioned, indeed, a general consternation through 
the whole line of Gates's arniy.^ This affair of the 
advance guard was followed by a musketrj^ fire, which 
continued for nearly a quarter of an hour, when the two 
armies, finding themselves thus unexpectedly in touch witli 
each otlier, ceased firing and acquiesced in a suspension of 
hostilities.^ 

Some })risoners were taken on both sides, and from one 
of these Colonel Williams, the Adjutant General of the 
American army, obtained information respecting the situa- 
tion and numbers of the enemy. He learned that Lord 
Cornwallis commanded in person, and was informed that 
about three thousand regular British troops were in line 
of march about five hundred or six hundred yards in front. 
Order having been restored, the officers were employed in 
forming a line of battle, when Colonel Williams communi- 
cated to General Gates the information he had received 
from the prisoner. Gates could nqt conceal his astonish- 
ment, and at once called another council of war of all the 
general officers. This took place in rear of the line, when 
the unwelcome news was communicated to them. Gen- 
eral Gates asked, " Gentlemen, what is best to be done ?" 
All were silent for a few moments, when General Stevens 
exclaimed, " Gentlemen, is it not too late now to do any- 
thing but fight?" No otlier advice was offered, and the 
General desired the gentlemen to repair to their respective 
commands. 

Baron De Kalb appeared to have assumed it as a matter 
of course that Gates would have ordered a retreat ; he did 
not, however, oppose the suggestion of General Stevens, 
and measures were at once taken preparatory to action. 
Lieutenant Colonel Porterfield, in wliose bravery and 

^ Williams's narrative, Johnson's Life of Greene, Appendix, 494. 
2 Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 675 

j>ulicioiis conduct great dependence was placed in the 
lirst rencontre, received a mortal wound and was carried 
from the field.^ His infantry kept the ground in front, 
and the army was formed in the following order : the 
Maryland division, including the Delawares, under Briga- 
dier General Gist, on the right; the North Carolina 
militia, under Brigadier General Caswell, in the centre ; 
and the Virginia militia, under Stevens, on the left. Each 
flank was covered by a swamp so near as to admit the 
removing of the First Maryland Brigade, under General 
Smallwood, to iorm a second line about two hundred 
yards in the rear of the first. The artillery was placed in 
the centre of the front line, and the North Carolina militia 
(light infantry), under Major Armstrong, which had 
retreated in the first collision, was ordered to cover a 
small interval between the left wing and the swampy 
grounds in that quarter. 

Gates, the hero of Saratoga, — he who was to save the 
country despite of Washington, " the weak general who 
was running it,"^ he who was to render the Southern 
army irresistible,^ — was now brought to the test of his 
vaunted prowess. He had reaped at Saratoga honors, the 
seeds of which Schuyler had sown. Now he must show 
whether he was worthy of them. With Lee's ominous cau- 
tion, " Beware that your Northern laurels do not change to 
Southern willows," ringing in his ears, he stood there as 
the morning dawned, appalled at the suddenness of the trial 
he had so vaingloriously challenged. He, the critic of 
Washington and the favorite of Congress, who had been 
sent to command in the South against Washington's pref- 
ix Charles Porterfield, then a sergeant, was the first person who crossed 
the barricade when Arnold slornud the heights at Quebec, Morgan being 
the second. Mar.siialPs Life of Washington, vol. II, o3:>, note, 
a Irving's Washinyton, III, 303. 8 j^id., 348. 



676 HISTOUY OF SOUTH CAUOLINA 

erence, now in this supreme moment of trial ntterl}^ failed ; 
for the battle he had sought he was without plan and 
without expedient. He gave no orders. To Colonel 
Williams's suggestion that if the enemy in the act of 
deploying were briskly attacked by General Stevens's bri- 
gade, which was already in line of battle, the effect might 
be fortunate, he but weakly observed, "That's right — let 
it be done." This is apparently the only direction he gave 
during the battle.^ 

Lord Cornwallis, on the other side, had soon mastered 
the situation. He had ascertained that the ground on 
which both armies stood, being narrowed by swamps on the 
right and left, was extremely favorable for his numbers; 
and while not choosing to risk the uncertainty of a iiglit in 
the dark, he took measures to secure the position until 
morning. At the dawn he formed his troops for the battle. 
The division on the right consisted of a small corps of light 
infantry, the Twenty-third and Thirty-third regiments, 
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Webster. The 
division on the left consisted of the volunteers of Ireland, 
the infantry of the Legion, and part of Lieutenant Colonel 
Hamilton's North Carolina regiment under the command 
of Lord Rawdon, with two six-pounders and two three- 
pounders. The Seventy-first Regiment with two six- 
pounders was formed as a reserve, one battalion in rear of 
the division of the riglit, the other in rear of that of the 
left. The cavalry of the Legion was in the rear, close to 
the Seventy-first Regiment, with orders to seize any oppor- 
tunity that might offer to break the enemy's lines, or to 
protect their own in case any corps should meet wit^ a 
check. 2 

Colonel Williams, having obtained the assent of Ceneral 

1 Williams's narrativo. Johiismr.s Lifr of Ureenr, Appendix. 495. 

2 Lord Cornwallis's R-port, Tark'toii's Campaitjus, 132. 



IN THE H EVOLUTION 677 

Gates that Stevens should attack, hastened to Stevens, who 
instantly advanced with his hrigade, ap[)arently in line 
s[)iiits ; hut the right wing of the enemy was found 
alicady in line. It was too late to surprise them; Colonel 
Williams nevertheless requested General Stevens to let him 
have forty or fifty volunleers with whom to commence the 
attack. These he led forward within a few 3'ards of the 
enemy, taking shelter by the trees and keeping up a brisk 
fire.i 

Lord Cornwallis, whose lines had just been formed, 
observing this movement, directed Lieutenant Colonel 
Webster to begin the attack, which was done with great 
vigor, and in a few minutes the action was general along 
the whole front. Genei'al Stevens, observing the enemy 
about to charge, reminded his men of their bayonets ; 
but the impetuosity with which the British advanced, 
firing and hurrahing, threw the whole body of the militia 
into sucli a panic that they threw their loaded arms down 
and fled in the utmost consternation. The example of 
the Virginians was almost immediately followed by the 
North Carolinians. General Rutherford acted with dis- 
tinguished gallantry until disabled by a musket ball 
through his thigh, when he was captured. General Butler 
vainly endeavored to keep the centre of the North Caro- 
lina militia in position, but that and a part of the line 
under General Gregory, who was on the left, fled also, 
liut Gregory himself and part of his brigade, a regiment 
under Colonel Dixon, remained and fought with great 
heroism. The Continental troops and this regiment of 
Noi-|h Carolinians were left to oj^pose the British. Hav- 
ing their flank exposed by the flight of the other militia, 
Dixon's regiment joined the Marylanders, whose left they 
became, and vied in deeds of courage with their veteran 
• Williaina's narnilivo, Jdlmsoir.s Life of Greene, Appendix, 405. 



678 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

comrades. Colonel Dixon himself had seen service, hav- 
ing commanded a Continental regiment under Washington. 
By his precept and example he infused his own spirit into 
liis troops, who, emulating the ardor of their leader, demon- 
strated the wisdom of selecting experienced officers to com- 
mand raw soldiers.^ This regiment kept together while 
tliey had a cartridge to fire. Some of them stood to be 
bayoneted. General Gregory, who was fighting with them, 
himself received two such wounds.^ 

De Kalb and Gist with the Second Maryland Brigade 
held their ground for some time with heroic firmness ; 
Lord Rawdon, with the volunteers of Ireland, the in- 
fantry of the Legion, and the North Carolina Loyalists 
could not move them. The battle was thus nobly main- 
tained by the two Maryland brigades, the Delaware and 
North Carolina regiments. Seeing this. Lord Cornwallis 
ordered a part of the British cav^alry, under Major Hanger, 
to charge their flank, while Colonel Tarleton witli the 
remainder completed their confusion. The British in- 
fantry, charging at the same moment, put an end to 
the contest. Cornwallis's victory was complete. Rout 
and slaughter ensued in every quarter; all the artillery 
and a very great number of prisoners fell into his hands. 
General Gist and about one hundred Continentals escaped 
in a body by wading through the swamp on the right of 
the American position. The Delaware regiment was an- 
nihilated. Baron De Kalb fought on foot with the Second 
Maryland Brigade, and fell mortally wounded, receiving 
eleven wounds. While his life was yet lingering, he was 
rescued from immediate death by the heroic interposition of 
Lieutenant Colonel du Buysson, one of his aides-de-camp, 
who, embracing the fallen General, received into his own 

1 Memoirs of thi'. War of 1776 (Lee), 187. 
^ No. Ca., 17S0-81 (Schenck), 91. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 679 

body tlie bayonets pointed at his friend. Major Thomas 
PiiiL'kney, who, it will be recollected, had been sent out 
of Chailestown before the surrender, and had joined 
(ienerul (iates as an aide-de-camp, was severely wounded, 
and fell into the hands of the enemy. The North Caro- 
lina militia suffered greatly. More than three hundred 
were taken, and nearly one hundred were killed and 
wounded. Strange to say, the Virginia militia, who set 
the example which produced the destruction of the army, 
escaped entirely.^ Tlie pursuit was continued, and none 
were saved but those who penetrated the swamps which 
had been deemed impassable. The road was heaped with 
dead and wounded. Arms, artillery, horses, and baggage 
were strewn in every direction. The torrent of unarmed 
militia bore away with it Generals Gates and Caswell. 
Gates, it is said, first conceived a hope that he might rally 
at Clermont a sufficient number to cover the retreat of the 
regulars.^ But if he had, he did not stay long to attempt 
it. No rendezvous was ap[)ointed by him, no order was 
given. lie fled as the commonest coward in the army ; 
he fled day and night until he reached Charlotte, seventy 
miles distant, and being mounted on a celebrated race- 
horse he outstripped all his followers in the race.^ Noth- 
ing could stop him. Lieutenant Colonel Senf, who had 
been on the expedition with Sumter, met and informed 
him of the complete success of the expedition, and that 
Sumter was on the opposite side of the Catawba with one 
hundred [)risoners and forty loaded wagons which he had 
captured.^ But this trifling affair did not interest him. 
He had no directions to give, no warning to Sumter to 

* Memoirs of the ]\'ar of 1770 (Lee), 185. 

' Williams's narrative, Jolinson's Life of Greene, Appendix, 497. 
» No. Ca. in 17S0-S1 (Schenck), 95. 

♦ Williams's narrative, supra. 



680 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

send. Farther on he met Major Davie with his corps on 
liis return from Charlotte, where he had been to escort 
some of those wounded at Hanging Rock on the 6th to a 
liospital he had established there, and was now hastening 
to overtake the army at Rugeley's Mills. A short time 
before, Davie had arrested as a deserter an American 
soldier who was in full speed, and learned from him the 
disaster Avhich had befallen. This unwelcome news was 
soon confirmed b}^ the appearance of Gates himself in full 
flight. Gates called to Davie to fall back on Charlotte, or 
the dragoons would soon be on him. Davie replied that 
" his men were accustomed to Tarleton and did not fear 
him." Gates had no time to argue, but pressed on. Gen- 
eral Isaac Huger then rode up, and Davie inquired of him 
how far the directions of General Gates ought to be obeyed, 
to which linger replied, " Just so far as 3^ou please, for you 
will never see him again." Davie then sent a gentleman 
to General Gates to say that if he wished, he would go 
on and bury his dead. The answer of Gates was: ^'- 1 say 
retreat! Let the dead bury their dead.'' ^ This injunction 
Davie did not obey, but with the hope of being useful in 
saving the soldiers, baggage, and stores he continued to 
advance.^ Indeed, he appears at this time to have been 
the only officer at liberty capable of thinking and acting. 
Learning from General Huger the probability of Sumter's 
ignorance of Gates's defeat, he immediately took steps to 
inform him. He instantly dispatched one of his officers, 
Captain Martin, with two dragoons to inform Sumter, who 
was moving up the western bank of the Catawba,*' and to 
urge him to hasten to Charlotte whither he himself meant 

1 Wheeler's Hist, of No. Ca., 194 ; No. Ca. in 1780-81 (Schenck), 
90. 

2 Memoirx of the War of 1770 (Lee), 188. 

8 The Wateree here changes its uanio to Catawba. 



IN THK KK VOLUTION 681 

to proceed, and to assemble, as he returned, all the force 
which could be induced to take the field. Davie's message 
did not reach Sumter a moment too soon. 

Hy the time the British troops had satiated themselves 
with the slaughter of Gates's men, Cornwallis began to 
tiiink of Sumter and his party, who were carrying off nearly 
fifty wagons of supi)lies and two hundred and fifty prison- 
ers. He I'ealized the importance of tlestroying or dispers- 
ing, if possible, this corps under Sumter, to prevent its 
becoming a rallying point for the routed army. On the 
morning of the 17th, therefore, he detached Lieutenant 
Colonel Tarleton Avith the Legion cavalry and infantry and 
the corps of light infantry, in all about three hundred and 
iifty men, with orders to attack him wherever he could find 
him. He also, at this same time, sent orders to Lieutenant 
Colonel TurnbuU and Colonel Ferguson on Little River to 
put their corps in motion immediately, and on 4;heir side to 
pursue and endeavor to attack Sumter.^ Captain Martin, 
on the night of the 16th, reached Sumter, who immedi- 
ately moved with his prisoners and booty, and escaped 
Turnbull. But having avoided that party of the British, 
Sumter seems to have indulged in the belief that he was 
safe, and accordingly encamped on the night of the ITtli 
at Rocky Mount, about thirty miles from Camden, and 
much nearer Cornwallis. Instead of resting there but a 
few hours, he did not resume his march until daylight, 
and then, having only passed Fishing Creek eight miles 
distant, he again halted. Here, with strange fatuity, but 
little precautions were taken against surprise. His troops 
occupied in line of march a bridge contiguous to the north 
side of the creek, at which place his rearguard was sta- 
tioned, and two vedettes were posted at a small distance in 
its front, 'riiough warned of his danger, Sumter trusted 
' TarUt< Ill's Campaiynx, 134. 



G82 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to these slender precautions. Ilis arms were stacked, and 
his men permitted to indulge at pleasure, some in strolling, 
some in bathing, and others reposing. 

Tarleton had set out early on the morning of the 17th, 
and marched up the east side of the Wateree, or Catawba, 
intending to cross it at or near Rocky Mount. Upon the 
route he overtook some Continentals, and in the afternoon 
learned that Sumter was moving aloncr the western bank 
of the river. On his arrival at dusk at tlie ferry facing 
Rocky Mount, he saw Sumter's fires about a mile distant 
from the op})Osite shore. No camp fires were allowed to be 
lit by his men, and the boats on the river were secured. 
No alarm happened, and at daybreak it was discovered that 
Sumter had decamped. The river was crossed, and Tarle- 
ton pursued, but the same causes which, no doubt, had in- 
duced Sumter to halt and rest his men, — the exhaustion 
of the men ^rom the exertion of the previous days, and the 
intense heat, — affected as well Tarleton's as Sumter's move- 
ments. To so great a degree was this tliat wlien Tarleton 
arrived at Fishing Creek at twelve o'clock, he found his 
command so exhausted that it could be no longer moved 
forward in a compact and serviceable state. But such 
considerations never deterred Tarleton. Exactly the same 
condition of things had occurred in his })ursuit of Buford 
in May, but he had not allowed it to arrest his course. So 
now selecting one hundred dragoons of the Legion and 
sixty foot soldiers most able to bear further hardship, 
mostly of the light infantry, to follow the eneni}', and leav- 
ing th^ remainder witli the three-pounder at an advanta- 
geous piece of ground to cover his retreat in case of acci- 
dent, he pressec^ on, following Sumter's tracks upon the 
road, until tliey came upon the two vedettes he had [)Osted 
in front of his rear-guard. These fired upon his advance 
guard as it entered a valley, and killed one of his dragoons. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 683 

upon Avhich his coinniand slew the two vedettes before 
Tailetoii could interpose to obtain information respecting 
Sumter. A sergeant and fouu men of the British Legion 
soon afterwards approached the summit of the neighbor- 
ing eminence, wliere, instantly halting, they crouched 
upon their horses and made a signal to their commanding 
otticer. Tarleton rode forward to the advance guard, and 
saw the American camp lying before him in the condition 
described, not in the least alarmed by the fire of the ve- 
dettes. His decision and preparation for the attack were 
made with his habitual prom[)tness. Tlie cavalry and 
infantry were formed into one line, and giving a general 
shout, advanced to the charge. The arms and artillery of 
the Continentals were taken before Woolford's men could 
be assembled. Consternation immediately ensued through- 
out the camp. Some resistance was made from behind the 
wasfons in front of the militia, and several conflicts took 
place l)efore the action was completely decided, but it soon 
terminated in universal flight.^ Sumter, who was asleep 
under a wagon, barely escaped with his life, and in the 
confusion rode off without saddle, hat, or coat, and readied 
Major Davie's camp at Charlotte, two days after, unattended 
by officer, soldier, or servant.^ 

Thus ended Gates's disastrous campaign. How many 
Americans perished on the field or surrendered at Camden 
is not accurately known.^ Tarleton makes the American 
loss 70 officers and 2000 men killed, wounded, and pris- 
onei-s, with eight pieces of cannon, several colors, and all 
their carriages and wagons, containing the stores, ammuni- 
tion, and baggage of the whole army.* Lord Cornwallis 

^ Tarleton's Campaigns, 112-114 ; Memoirs of the ]Var of 177G (Lee), 
187-189 ; Uainsay's JievohUion, vol. II, 153. 
2 Wheeler'.s Hist, of No. Ca., 195. 
» Bancroft, Hist, of U. S., vol. V, 389. 
♦ Tarletou's Camj)ai(jns, 109. 



G84 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

reported that between 800 and 900 were killed.^ The 
British loss was 68 killed, 245 wounded, and 11 missing — 
a total of 324 out of 2239 men engaged in the action. 

At Fishing Creek, Sumter lost 150 officers and soldiers 
killed and wounded, 10 Continental officers and lOU men, 
many militia officers, and upwards of 200 privates made 
prisoners; 2 three-pounders, 2 ammunition wagons, 1000 
stands of arms, 44 wagons loaded with baggage, rum, and 
other stores, which had been captured by him two days 
before and were now recaptured. The loss on the British 
side was inconsiderable. Captain Charles Campbell was 
killed, and 15 non-commissioned officers and men were 
killed and wounded. 

These were crushing blows. But the spirit wliich had 
now been aroused was indomitable. The defeat of Gates, 
though so overwhelming, while disappointing, was prob- 
ably less injurious to the cause in South Carolina than 
the surprise and slaughter of Sumter's party. For Con- 
gress had delayed so long in sending the army that tlie 
people had, without waiting for it, learned in a measure 
to take care of themselves. They had learned that with 
courage and address they had nothing to fear in meeting 
even the British regulars — indeed, they were uncon- 
sciously improvising a system of warfare in which the 
technical soldier was not a match for the active, wary 
woodsman. If Tarleton could find a mass upon which to 
charge, his onset was fearful, and if Webster could find 
a regular line formed, his bayonets were no less terrible ; 
but the backwoodsmen were learning that the fire of their 
unerrinof rifle from the covert was strikingf as fjreat a terror 
in the hearts of the British troops as Tarleton or Webster 
had ever caused in theirs. And after all, Sumter had been 
at first successful and liad surprised the enemy and made 
' Tarleton's Campaiijus, 133. 



IN THE KKVOLUTION 685 

an immense capture. This he had lost when out of the 
reacli, as he thought, of his pursuers. But many of his 
men liaJ escaped, and he wouhl soon be at the head of them 
a;j^ain ready for another venture. In the meanwhile a 
brilliant sti'oke had been made on the extreme left of the 
American line under Shelby and Clarke, and on the right 
Marion had achieved a success. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

1780 

After the battle at the Old Iron Works, or second battle 
of Cedar Springs, on the 8th of August, Colonel Feiguson 
sent his wounded to Musgrove's Mills on the south side of 
the Enoree River, in what is now Laurens County, and fell 
back to Culbertson's plantation on Fair Forest. There, on 
the 10th, he received an express from Colonel Turnbull 
telling him of Sumter's attack on Hanging Rock on the 
6th, with orders to join Turnbull, who, it will be remem- 
bered, had in the meanwhile been ordered by Lord Raw- 
don to evacuate Rocky Mount and join Ferguson at his 
camp at Little River. Upon the receipt of this express, 
F'erguson set out, and, marching eastwardly across the 
present county of Union, crossing Tinker's Creek and 
Tyger River and fording Broad River at Lyles's Ford, 
resting in the Mobleys' friendly settlement in what is now 
Fairfield County, he heard that Gates lay within three 
miles of Camden with seven thousand men, and that Tuin- 
bull had orders to retreat from Rocky Mount. Pushing 
on, Ferguson marched to Colonel Winn's ])lantation about 
eight miles west of Winnsboro, where he halted and lay, 
awaitinjj news from Camden.^ On the American side in 
tliis part of tlie State, soon after the expedition of Chirke 
and Shelby, ending with tlie fight at the Old Iron Works, 
McDowell had advanced into South Carolina and estab- 

1 Allaire's Diary, August 10th to 17th ; King's Mountain and its 
Heroes, Appendix, 503, 504. 

086 



IN THE HK VOLUTION 687 

lishecl liis camp at Smith's Ford on the eastern bank of the 
Broad River in what is now York County, a position some 
two miles south of his former camp at Cherokee Ford, just 
across the State line. McDowell had been kept well in- 
formed of Ferguson's movements, and learning that a body 
of Loyalists were stationed at Musgrove's Mills, the post to 
which Ferguson had sent those of his men wounded at the 
Old Iron Works, the idea was conceived that as the road 
was now open, Ferguson being on tiie other side of the 
Broad, this post presented a vulnerable point. The fact 
that the term of enlistment of Colonel Shelby's men was 
about to expire, was a pressing motive to that enterprising 
officer to avail himself of this opportunity to strike another 
blow before his regiment was disbanded. Colonels Shelby 
and Clarke were accordingly appointed to lead a party of 
mountain men to surprise and attack the Loyalists at Mus- 
grove's Mills. With Clarke were Captains James McCall 
and Samuel Hammond. The day before the expedition 
started, that is on the 16th of August, — the day on which 
the battle was fought at Camden, — Colonel James Will- 
iams of South Carolina joined the party, with Colonel 
Brandon, Colonel James Stein, and ALijor McJunkin, also 
of this State, all of the old Ninety-Six brigade of militia, 
and a few followers. 

Colonel Williams was a native of Virginia, and had first 
removed to North and then to South Carolina, where he 
came in 1773 and settled on Little River. He early took 
part in the opposition to the measures of the British gov- 
ernment, and had served as Lieutenant Colonel of militia 
in the Williamson expedition against the Cherokees in 
1776, and had shared in the battle of Brier Creek, Stono, 
and at the siege of Savannah in 1779. He had joined 
Sumter's camp at Clem's Branch in July, but had left it 
under circumstances which gfave rise to unfavorable com- 



688 IllSTOUV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ment cand ultimately to great unpopularity.^ He was, says 
the historian of K'uu/s Mountain atul its Heroes, rough, 
rash, and fearless ; and it may be added tliat his ambition 
for glory, mingled doubtless with a true love of country, 
led him, perhaps unconsciously, to the use of means not 
overscrupulous in the accomplishment of his ends. But 
while he differed and chaffered with Sumter, Hill, and 
their associates, yet when the tug of war came he plunged 
fearlessly into the thickest of the figlit, and freely poured 
out his blood and yielded up his life for his country. 
Brandon was of Irish descent. Born in Pennsylvania, he 
had emigrated to what is now Union Count3^ He had 
also been with Sumter, and had left Sumter with Williams. 
Stein was, like Brandon, of Irish descent, born in Pennsyl- 
vania, and a settler in the same neighborhood. He had, in 
1779, served in Georgia, then at Stono and Savannah ; but 
unlike Williams and Brandon, had remained with Sumter 
and distinguished himself at Rocky Mount and Hanging 
Rock. 

It was agreed by Colonels Shelby, Clarke, and Williams 
that the command should be conjoint, and a plan of oper- 
ations was determined upon. Just before sundown on 
the 17th, that is about the same time that Sumter was 
going into camp at Rocky Mount, thinking himself safe 
from Tarleton, two hundred well-mounted adventurous 
men started from Smith's Ford on the expedition to Mus- 
grove's Mills. Williams and Brandon and their men were 
well acquainted with the country, and knew the best 
route by which to reach the enemy. Tliey rode all night, 
much of the way in a cantc}-, and without making a single 
stop, crossing Gilky's and Thicketty creeks, Pacolet, 
Fair Forest, and Tyger rivers, with other lesser streams ; ^ 

1 Hill's narrative, Sumter MSS. 

2 Draper says the party passed "within three or four miles of Fergu- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 689 

tliey rode some twenty-six miles from Smith's Ford to 
l>r;uidon*s settloinont in Fair Forest. Thence it was still 
twelve or fourteen miles to Musgrove's Mills. It was a 
hard night's ride. 

Arriving near the dawn of day, within a mile nearly 
north of Musgrove's Ford, says Draper, the Wliigs halted 
at an old Indian field and sent out a party of five or six 
scouts to reconnoitre the situation. The scouts crossed 
the mouth of Cedar Shoal Creek, close to the present 
Spartanburg line, a short distance below Musgrove's, where 
they forded the P^noree and stealthily approached suffi- 
ciently near tlie Tory camps to make observations. Re- 
turning by the same route, when on the top of the river 
ridge west of Cedar Shoal Creek they encountered a small 
Tory patrol which had passed over at Musgrove's Ford 
(luring tlieir absence and thus gained their rear. Sharp 
liring ensued, when one of the enemy was killed, two 
wounded, and two fled precipitately to the Tory camp. 
Two of tlie Americans were slightly wounded, who with 
tlieir fellows now promptly returned to Shelb}^ and Clarke's 
halting-place, with the intelligence they had gained and 
the particulars of their skirmish. Upon this Shelby and 
Claike took position on a timbered ridge some little dis- 
tance east of Cedar Shoal Creek and within half a mile of 
Musgrove's Ford and Mills. 

At this juncture a countr3'man who lived near by came 
in, giving information that the British had been reenforced 
the preceding evening by the arrival of Colonel Alexander 
Innes from Ninety-Six with two hundred men of the Pro- 
son's camp, which was at this time at Fair Forest Shoal, in Brandon's 
selticmt-nt." Hut this is a mistake, liy Allaire's Diary it appears Fer- 
guson was at Winn's plantation in wiiat is now Fairfield County, eight 
miles from Winnsboro, on the night of the 17th. King''s Mountain and 
its Heroes, Appendix, 504. 

VOL. III. — 2 Y 



600 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

vincial regiments and one hundred Tories destined to 
join Colonel Ferguson. Tlie regular garrison to which 
Ferguson had sent his wounded from the Old Iron Works 
appears to have been under tlie command of a Major 
Fraser. Captain Abraham de Peyster of the King's Amer- 
ican regiment, as well as the noted partisan, Uavid Fan- 
ning of North Carolina, were also there ; while Colonel 
Daniel Clary was encamped with them at the head of the 
Tories of that region. McKenzie in his Strictures on 
Tarletofi's History states that the detachment commanded 
by Lieutenant Colonel Innes consisted of a company of 
the New Jersey volunteers, a captain's command of De 
Lancey's (New York Royalists), and about one hundred 
men of the South Carolina regiment mounted,^ which 
was a part of Innes's own command. This detachment 
was therefore probably three hundred men ; and if the 
information upon which the expedition was formed, 
namel}', that the garrison originally was two hundred 
strong, was correct, the whole force was now about five 
hundred men. So minute were the circumstances of the 
information communicated by the countryman that no 
doubt was entertained of the truth. To march and attack 
the enemy under these circumstances appeared to be rash, 
while to attempt a retreat, wearied and broken down as 
their horses were, seemed equall}' dangerous. Colonel 
Shelby and his associates in this dilemma promptly con- 
cluded that they had no alternative but to light. Secur- 
ing their horses in their rear, they improvised a breast- 
work of logs and brushwood, and determined to make the 
best defence possible. These lines were formed across the 
road, at least three hundred yards in length along the ridge 
in a semicircle, and both protected and concealed by a 
wood. Old logs, fallen trees, and brusli were hurried into 
1 Strictures on Lieutenant Colonel Tarletvn''s Jliiftori/, 25. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 691 

place, so that in thirty minutes they had a very respect- 
able protection breast high. Shelby occupied the right, 
Clarke the left, and Williams the centre. A party of some 
twenty horsemen were placed on each flank, shielded as 
much as possible from the enemy's observation, — Josiah 
Culbertson having the command of that on Slielbj^'s 
right, while (^olonel Clarke had a reserve of forty men 
within calling distance. 

The firing of the scouting party and the speedy arrival 
of the fleeing patrol put the Tory camp in wild commotion. 
Colonel Innes, Major Fraser, and other officers who had 
their headquarters at Edward Musgrove's residence held 
a hurried council. Innes was for marching: over the river 
at once and catching the rebels before they had time to 
retreat, while others advised delay, at least until a party 
of one hundred men who had gone on a patrol eight miles 
below near Jones's Ford should return. But Innes's coun- 
sels prevailed, lest they should miss so fine an opportunity 
" to bag " a scurv}' lot of ragamuffins, as they spoke of the 
adventurous Americans. So leaving one hundred men in 
camp as a reserve, preparations were made for an immedi- 
ate advance. 

In the meanwhile Captain Shadrach Inman, who had 
already distinguished himself in Geoigia fighting in the 
American cause, was sent forward with about twenty-five 
mounted men v.ith orders to fire u})on and provoke the 
Britisli to cross the ford, and gradually to draw them on 
to the line prepared by Siielby and Clarke. This strata- 
gem, wliicli was the suggestion of Inman himself, worked 
admirably. The Captain ke[)t up a show of fighting, while 
the British infantry pressed on by Innes were elated at 
their success in driving him Ijcfore them at the point of 
the bayonet. While yet two hundred yards distant from 
the American breastwork, they hastily formed into line of 



692 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

battle, and advancing fifty 3'-ards nearer they opened a 
heavy fire, bnt generally overshot their antagonists. The 
frontiersmen availed themselves of the protection of the 
trees, a fence extending along the road, and of the rudely 
constructed breastwork. They were cautioned to reserve 
their fire " till they could see the whites of the Tories' eyes," 
or as another account has it "till they could distinguish the 
buttons on their clothes," nor even then to discharge their 
rifles until orders were given, when each man was " to take 
his object sure." These orders were strictly obe3'ed. 

The British centre on which Inraan made his feigned 
attacks, seeing him retire in apparent confusion, pressed 
forward under beat of drum and bugle charge in pursuit, 
but in considerable disorder, shouting for King George. 
On approaching within seventy yards of the American 
lines, they were unexpectedly met with a deadly fire, from 
which they at first recoiled. Their superiority in numbers, 
however, enabled them to continue their attack, notwith- 
standing the advantage which the breastwork gave the 
Americans. A strong force composed of the Provincials, 
led on by Innes and Fraser forming the enemy's left wing, 
drove at the point of the bayonet the right wing of the 
Americans under Shelby from their breastwork. Then 
ensued a desperate struggle — Shelby's men contending 
against large odds, and the right flank of his liglit wing 
gradually giving way, wliilst his left flank maintained its 
connection with the centre at the breastwork. The left 
wing opposed to the Tories retained its position, and see- 
ing Shelby in need of succor, Clarke sent his small reserve 
to his aid, which proved a most timely relief. At this 
critical moment, as Innes was forcing Shelby's right flank, 
the British leader was badly wounded, fell fi-om his horse, 
and was carried back, shot by one of the Watauga volun- 
teers, who exultingly exclaimed, "I've killed their com- 



IX TIIK KKVOLUTION 693 

nijinderl" Upon this Shelby rallied his men, who, with a 
frontier Indian yell, furiously rushed upon tlie enemy and 
gradually forced tliem back. Culbertson's flanking party 
acted a most conspicuous part on this occasion. 

In this desperate contest one British captain was killed, 
and five out of the seven of the surviving officers of tlieir 
Provincial corps were wounded. Besides Colonel Junes, 
Major Fraser was also wounded by a "Watauga rifleman, and 
was seen to reel and fall from his horse. Captain Camp- 
bell together with Lieutenants Camp and Chew were also 
among the wounded. The Tories failing to make any 
impression on Clarke's line, and having already lost several 
of their officers and many of their men, began to show 
signs of wavering, when Captain Hawse}^ a noted leader, 
wliile striving to reanimate them, was shot down. In the 
midst of the confusion that followed, Clarke and his brave 
men, following Shelby's example, pushed fortli from their 
barrier, 3-elling, shooting, and slashing on every hand. 
It was in this turmoil that the Tory, Colonel Clary, had 
his horse's bridle seized on both sides of his liead at the 
same moment by two stalwart Whigs. He had, however, 
the ingenuity and presence of mind to extricate himself 
from his perilous situation by exclaiming, " D — n you, 
don't you know your own officers ! " He was instantly 
released and fled at full speed. 

The British and Tories were now in full retreat, closely 
followed by the mountaineers. It was in the excitement 
of this pursuit that Captain Inman was killed while press- 
ing the enemy and fighting them hand to hand. He 
received seven shots from the Tories, one a musket ball 
piercing liis forehead. Draper justly observes that great 
credit is due to Ca[>tain Inman for the successful manner 
in which he brought on the action, and the aid he rendered 
in conducting it to a triuin[)liant issue. 



694 IIISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The yells and screeches of the retreating British and 
Tories, it is said, as they ran through the woods and over 
the hills to the river, loudly intermingled with the shouts 
of their pursuers, together with the groans of the dying 
and wounded, were terrific and heartrending in the ex- 
treme. The Tories ceased to make any show of defence 
when halfway from the breastwork to the ford. The 
retreat then became a rout; with reckless speed they has- 
tened to the river, through which they rushed with the 
wildest fright, hotly pursued by the victorious Americans 
with sword and rifle, killing, wounding, or captuiing all 
who came in their way. Many of the Tories were shot 
down as they were hastening pell-mell across the rocky 
ford. 

While the firing was yet kept up on the north side of 
the Enoree, an intrepid frontiersman, Captain Sam Moore, 
led a small party of ten or twelve men up the river, and 
crossing the stream at Head's Ford rushed down upon a 
portion of the enemy with such impetuosity and audacity 
as to impress them with the belief that they were but the 
vanguard of a much larger force, when they incontinently 
fled and Moore rejoined his victorious friends over the 
river. 

The patrolling party of the British which had been 
down the river near Jones's Ford heard the firing and came 
dashing back at full speed. Reining up their panting 
steeds before Musgrove's house, the commanding oflicer 
inquired what was the matter. Learning of the battle 
which had terminated so disastrously some thirty miiuites 
before, he pressed on and crossed the ford ; but he was too 
late. The victorious Americans had retreated with their 
prisoners, leaving the British troopers the melancholy duty 
of conveying their wounded friends to the hospital at 
Musgrove's. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 695 

It was a com[)lete rout on the part of the British and 
Tories. They seem to have appreliendeel wliat was in fact 
the purpose of the Whig leaders; namely, to push on at 
once to Ninety-Six, then believed to be in a weak and 
defenceless condition. Captain Kerr, upon whom the com- 
mand now devolved, finding that resistance would be in 
vain and without hope of success, ordered a retreat, Avhich 
was effected, and they crossed the river.^ A part of the 
force under the command of Captain de Pej'ster retreated 
a mile and a quarter, where they encamped for the re- 
mainder of the day, and in the night marched off toward 
Ninety-Six. 

As Kerr had anticipated that they would do, Shelby, 
Clarke, and Williams resolved at once to improve the ad- 
vantages they had gained, pursue the demoralized Tories, 
and make a dash for Ninety-Six, which they believed they 
could easily reach before night, as it was only twenty-five 
miles distant. The men were ordered to return to their 
horses and mount them. While the men Avere doing this, 
and Shelby was consulting Clarke as to the move, Francis 
Jones, an express from Colonel McDowell, rode up in 
Cfreat haste with a letter in his hand from General Caswell, 
telling of Gates's total defeat near Camden, apprising 
McDowell of the great disaster, and advising him and all 
oflicers commanding detachments to get out of the way or 
they would be cut off ; McDowell sent word that he would 
at once move toward Gilbert Town, as the present town 
of Lincolnton was then called. General Caswell's hand- 
writing was familiar to Shelby, so he knew that the infor- 
mation was true, and not a Tory device to frighten him 
away. Clarke, Williams, and himself recognized the 
danger of their own situation. Ferguson and Tuinbull, 

1 McKenzie's Strictures on Lieutenant Colonel Tarlcton's History, 25 : 
McCall's Hist, of Ga., 31G. 



696 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

wlio had formed a junction, now relieved of any concern 
for the main army under Cornwallis, were free to retrace 
Ferguson's march, recross the Broad and get in their rear, 
cutting them off from McDowell, who had himself aban- 
doned his camp at Smith's Ford and retired into North 
Carolina. Lieutenant Colonel Cruger at Ninety-Six would, 
no doubt, now that he too must have learned of their vic- 
tory at Camden, be coming to the assistance of Innes. The 
brilliant prospects of the moment before were at once dis- 
pelled. Far from pursuing the advantages of the signal 
victory they had here gained, the question now was how 
they could secure their own retreat. It was determined 
in a hasty council, while on horseback, that they would 
take a route through the backwoods to avoid and escape 
Ferguson, and join Colonel McDowell on his retreat toward 
Gilbert Town. 

Hurriedly gathering the prisoners together and distribut- 
ing one to every three of the Americans, who conveyed 
them alternately on horseback, requiring each captive to 
carry his gun divested of its flint, the whole cavalcade was 
ready in a few moments to move on their retreat, as they 
knew Ferguson would be speedily apprised of their success 
and make a strenuous effort as he did at Wofford's Ii'on 
Works to regain their prisoners. The Whig troopers thus 
encumbered hurried ra})idly away in a nortliwestwardly 
direction, instead of a nortiieastwardly one toward their 
old encampment. They passed over a rough broken 
country, crossing the forks of the Tyger, leaving Ferguson 
on the right, heading their course toward their own friendly 
mountains. As they expected, they were ra[)idly pursued 
by a detachment of Ferguson's men. Wearied as they and 
their horses were, with scarcely any refresliment for either, 
yet Slielby's indomitable energy permitted them no rest 
while danger lurked in their way. l^ate in the evening 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 697 

of the 18tli, Ferguson's party reached the spot where the 
Whigs had less tliaa thirty minutes before fed their tired 
horses ; but not knowing how long they had been gone, 
and their own detachment being exhausted, they relin- 
quished further pursuit. Not aware of this the Americans 
kept on their tedious retreat all night and the following 
da}', passing the North Tj'ger and into the confines of 
North Carolina, sixty miles from the battle-field. In less 
than three days this gallant party of two hundred had 
marched one hundred miles and fought a battle, bringing 
off with them seventy prisoners. It is to be remarked, 
says Colonel Mill in his narrative, that during the advance 
of forty and the retreat of fifty or sixt}^ miles, the Ameri- 
cans never stopped to eat, but made use of peaches and 
green corn for their support. The excessive fatigue to 
Avhich they were subjected for two nights and two days 
broke down every officer so that their faces and eyes were 
so swollen and became so bloated that they were scarcely 
able to see.^ 

This action, says the same author, was one of the hard- 
est fouGrht with small arms during the Revolution. The 
smoke was so thick as to hide a man at the distance of 
two hundred yards. Shelby is quoted as describing this 
battle as " the hardest and best-foufjht action he was ever 
in," attributing this valor and persistency to " the great 
number of officers who were with him as volunteers." ^ 
The Provincials and the Tories on the British side fought 
bravely. Their dragoons, but lately raised, behaved with 
much gallantry, fighting on the left with Innes. They 
all exhibited the training they had received under that 
superior master Ferguson.^ 

The Hrilish loss in this affair was 63 killed, about 

1 Hill's nanutivo, SuintiT MSS. 

'^ Kiiii/s Jlounfain and its JLrocs, 115. ^ Ibid. 



698 HISTORY OB" SOUTH CAROLINA 

90 wounded, and 70 prisoners — a total of 223 out of 400 
or 500, probably one-half of all engaged; an unusually 
large proportion. The American loss was only four 
killed and eight or nine wounded.^ The disparity in 
killed and wounded was attributed to over-shooting on 
the part of the British and the protection the trees and 
breastwork afforded to the Americans, and still more 
to the skill of the frontiersmen in the use of the rifle. 
After the battle was over the women and children from 
many miles around came in to visit the ground, — some, 
it is said, from mere curiosity, and some even for plunder ; 
but for most it was a sad errand. This was a Tory region 
— the few Whigs in it had left from motives of personal 
safety or had joined Sumter or some other popular leader. 
The most of the visitors, therefore, were Tory women, 
seeking among the dead and wounded for their fathers, 
husbands, sons, or brothers. It was a painful and touch- 
inef scene to witness them turning^ over the bodies in love 
and dread, to find their dear ones among the slain or 
suffering. 2 

Marion on the extreme right of the American line, be- 
lieving, like Sumter, that the true way to encourage and 

^ King'^s Mountain and its Heroes, 115. 

2 It is remarkable that few American or British historians have at all 
noticed this important and hard-fought battle. Hill in his narrative 
complains that none of the historians who have written of the Revolution 
in the State have mentioned it ; and McKenzie in his Strictures on Tarle- 
ton''s History charges that author with great remissness in omitting 
any notice of it. It is not mentioned by Ramsay in either of his histo- 
ries of the State, nor by Johnson in his Life of Greene, nor by Lee in his 
Memoirs of the War of 1776, nor by Bancroft, nor by Roosevelt in The 
Winning of the West. Captain Hammond's account of it is published 
in Johnson's Traditions, and it is briefly described by McCall in his 
Hist, of Ga. Draper gives a full and particular account of it in his 
King''s Moimtain and its Heroes, and there is an account of it in Hill's 
narrative, Sumter MSS. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 699 

to command liis partisans was to find emplo3'ment, had not 
been idle, and their spirits had begun to revive. Return- 
ing to Port's Ferry, he tlirew up a redoubt on the east bank 
of the Pee Dee, on which he mounted two ohl iron fiekl- 
pieces to awe the Tories. On the ITth of August — the 
day on which Shelby, Clarke, and Williams started upon 
their expedition — he detached Major Peter Horry with 
orders to take command of four companies, Bonneau's, 
Mitchell's, Benison's, and Lenuds's, and to destroy all the 
boats and canoes on the Santee River from the Lower 
Ferry to Lenuds's ; to post guards so as to prevent all com- 
munication with Charlestown, and to procure him twenty- 
five weight of gunpowder, ball or buck-shot, and flints in 
proportion. The latter part of this oider shows how scanty 
were the means of his defence.^ Marion himself marched 
to the upper part of the Santee with the same object in 
view with wliich he had intrusted Horry. On his way he 
received intelligence of the defeat of Gates at Camden ; 
but this did not intimidate him. On the contrary, keeping 
the news of tlie disaster to himself, not communicating it 
to any one, he pressed on toward Nelson's Ferry, across 
which all communication between Camden and Charles- 
town must ])ass. Ajiproaching near the Ferry on the 
night of the liOtli of August, he was informed by his scouts 
that a guard with a party of prisoners were on their way 
to Charlestown, and had stopped at a house at the Great 
Savannah, or swamp, on the main road, east of the river, 
that is, in the southei-nmost part of the present county of 
Clarendon, near where the line between the counties of 
Berkeley and Orangeburgh begins. A little before day 
the next morning he gave the command of sixteen men to 
Colonel Hugh Horry, with orders to gain possession of the 
road at tlie pass of Horse Creek, which runs through the 
1 DocumenUtrtj Hist, of So. Ca. (Gibbes. Columbia, 1853), 11. 



700 mSTOlIY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

swamp two miles from and parallel with the Santee, while 
the main body under his own command would gain and 
attack them in their rear. In taking his position Colonel 
Horry unfortunately advanced too near to a sentinel, who 
fired upon him. Horry, thus discovered, did not hesitate 
a moment, but rushed up to the house and found the British 
arms piled before the door. These he seized, when the 
whole party surrendered. Twenty-two British regulai-s 
of the Sixty-third Regiment, two Tories, one captain, and 
a subaltern were taken, and 150 of the Maryland line 
liberated. Marion reported one man killed and Major 
Benison wounded. But the man, Josiah Cockfield, who 
was shot through the breast, lived to fight bravely again 
and to receive another wound in the service of the State. 

Marion after this affair marched back to Port's Ferr}^ 
he naturally supposing that the Continentals whom he had 
so gallantly rescued would to a man have joined his small 
party. But they could not be prevailed to shoulder a 
musket. "Where is the use," said they, "of fighting when 
all is lost ? " All but three deserted him. Two of these 
were Sergeants McDonald and Davis, who afterwards dis- 
tinguished themselves in his service.^ By the exertions 
of Marion and his officers the drooping spirits of his men 
were again revived, and another exploit was soon achieved. 

About the 27th of August, when having onl}' one hun- 
dred and fifty men, Marion, learning of the approach of 
Major Wemyss above Kingstree at the head of the Sixty- 
third Regiment and a body of Tories under Major Harrison, 
instantly dispatched Major James at the head of a company 
of volunteers, with orders to reconnoitre and count them. 
Calling in Major Peter Horry, Marion crossed Lynch's 
Creek and advanced to give battle. Tlie night after Major 

1 James's Life, of Morion, 47, 55 ; Weems's Life of Marion, 137 ; 
Ramsay's So. Co., vol. 11, ..i'J'J. 



IN TiiK iiEvoLrrroN 701 

Jiimes received his orders, somewliere near the present 
site of the town of Kitigstree in Williamsburg County, 
he liid himself in a tliicket close to the line of march of 
Major Wemyss and his party. The moon was shining 
brightly, and he was thus enabled to estimate quite accu- 
rately the forces, of the enemy. Having satisfied himself 
upon this point, James burst from his hiding-place as their 
rear-guard passed, and took some prisoners.^ Weems states 
on the authorit}' of General Peter Horry that of forty-nine 
men who composed their company, they killed and took 
prisoners about thirty .^ 

On the same night about an hour before day Marion 
met Major James ; tlie officers immediately dismounted 
and retired to consult, while the men sat on their horses 
in a state of anxious suspense. The conference was long 
and animated. At the end of it an order was given to 
direct the march back to Lynch's Creek. In response, says 
James, a groan was heard along the whole line. A bitter 
cup had now been mingled for the people of Williamsburg 
and Pee Dee, and they were doomed to drain it to the 
dregs. Major James reported the British force to be 
double that of Marion's, and Gainey's party of Tories in 
their rear had always been estimated at five hundred. 
A retreat was deemed prudent. Marion recrossed the 
Pee Dee at Port's Ferry, and tlie next evening, the 28th 
of August, commenced his retreat into North Carolina. 
About half of liis [)arty left liim. They could not leave 
their proi)erty and their families at the discretion of an 
iiritated, relentless enemy. Colonels Hugh Horry, John 
Erwin, and John Baxter, Major Peter Horry, Major John 
Vanderiiorst, Major Jolni James, Major Benison, and about 
sixty others continued with their ehief. Marion's march 

1 .laincs's Life of Mnrinn, •>'> : Hist, of Williamsburg Church, 54. 
'^ Life of Marion (Wcciiis), IJl. 



702 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was for some time much impeded by the two field-pieces 
which he attempted to take along, so after crossing the 
Little Pee Dee he wheeled them off to the side of the 
road and left them in a swamp. He never afterwards en- 
cumbered himself with artillery. By marching day and 
night he arrived at Avery's Mill on Downing Creek, the 
eastern branch of the Little Pee Dee River. From this 
point he detached Major James with a small party of 
volunteers to return to South Carolina to gain intelli- 
gence and procure recruits. He continued his march and 
pitched his camp for some time on the east side of the 
White Marsh near the head of the Waccamaw River in 
North Carolina. 

There was now no organized body of troops in South 
Carolina. But Marion had abandoned neither the cause 
nor his State. He was soon to return to renew the contest 
in the swamps of the Pee Dee and Santee. Davie's faithful 
little band was still with him at Charlotte, and around 
Sumter were gathering the remnants of his dispersed corps, 
and gaining new recruits among the refugees from South 
Carolina, for the Whigs had not lost confidence in their 
leader, despite the disaster at Fishing Creek. Farther to 
the west Shelby and Clarke and Williams just beyond the 
border wei'e devising new schemes of enterprise to invade 
again the State of which the British now appeared to have 
entire possession. 



^ 



CHAPTER XXXII 

1780 

Lord Cornwallts had achieved a great victory — a 
victory of wliich he had been by no means confident on his 
arrival at Camden on the night between the 13th and 14th 
of August. Indeed, it is clear from his dispatch to Lord 
George Germain that upon his arrival there he had found 
the situation quite as serious and alarming as Lord Raw- 
don's dispatches to him had represented them. So critical 
did he consider the position that he at once determined he 
liad but the option of one of two decisive courses : either 
to retire or attempt the enemy.^ This alternative he 
weighed, and seeing but little to lose by defeat and much 
to gain by a victory, with the decision of his character he 
at once resolved to risk a battle. By the superior organi- 
zation and discipline of liis own troops, upon which he had 
much relied, and by the utter want of organization on the 
part of the Americans and reckless folly of Gates, he had 
succeeded beyond his most sanguine hopes. But now that 
lie had won his victory, and had had time to count his 
gains, his lordship began to realize that they were not as 
great Jis he had anticipated. He had defeated and de- 
stroyed the army which Congress had so reluctantly sent 
to the assistance of South Carolina. But was the State 
conquered? To this question he could give no satisfactory 
answer. 

On June 4th, upon turning over the command to him, 
ir Henry Clinton had written to Lord George Germain 

* Tarleton's CampaU/ns, 120. 
703 



704 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tliat he might venture to assert that there were few men 
in South Carolina who were not either our prisoners or in 
arms with us. But now how stood it at the end of three 
months? True, the original leaders of the Revolution 
were all prisoners in Charlestown ; and the whole of the 
State's Continental soldiers, with a large part of those of 
Virginia and North Carolina, were in prison ships or 
cantonments in Christ Church Parisli. But in their place 
had sprung up others all over the State. The British 
army had captured the Continentals and dispersed the 
militia which the State authorities had brought into the 
field. But now had arisen an entirely new class — men 
who were fighting for liberty and love of country ; for 
a liberty the desire for which had been in a great measure 
inspired, not from the original civil cause of dispute, but 
from the insolence, tyranny, and cruelty with which his 
Majesty's military officers had endeavored to enslave the 
people. These men, without commissions even from the 
State, without organization under any form of law, with- 
out arms or ammunition other than the guns and rifles 
with which they hunted the fields for game, forming them- 
selves into voluntary bands, choosing their leaders for each 
special occasion, and with them consulting and deciding 
upon each particular move, had suddenl}' appeared in front 
of every division of his army, broken in upon his com- 
munications, and dauntlessly assailed his posts. In six 
weeks, from the 12th of July to the 27th of August, six- 
teen battles, great and small, had been fought in South 
Carolina, and in every one of these, except that of Camden, 
the Americans had been the assailants. And these fifteen 
attacks upon his outposts had been made in each instance 
by voluntary bands, who generally dispersed as soon as 
the object of the particular expedition had been accom- 
plished. But the number and audacity of these attacks 



IN THE REVOLUTION 705 

were not the most alarming feature of the situation as he 
surveyed it. His field returns discovered losses which he 
could not afford. True, at Camden he at one blow of his 
vigorous arm destroyed the Continental army from which 
the Soutli Carolinians had hoped for great assistance, and 
had killed, wounded, and taken prisoners of them 2070 ; 
but of these Marion had promptly recaptured 150, besides 
taking 33 of one of his best regiments, reducing the 
results of the victory to a loss to the Americans of 1920 
men, at a cost to himself, with those lost at Camden (324) 
and those taken by Marion (33) of 357 of his best troops ; 
so that his net gain from this battle was the infliction of a 
comparative loss to his enemy of 1563 men. On the other 
hand, the Americans had inflicted a loss upon liim in the 
other fifteen engagements of 1105, at a cost to them of 
638, leaving to him the comparative loss of 467 men. In 
casting up these figures of men won and lost there was, it 
is true, the handsome balance in his favor of 1096. But 
there was an aspect of this account which was far from 
encouraging. Eliminating the battle of Camden, in which 
not a South Carolinian had been engaged except two offi- 
cers on the general staff,^ the people of the State, with their 
immediate neighbors of North Carolina and Georgia, had 
inflicted a loss upon his force of more than 1000 men, at 
a loss to themselves of little more than 600. Examining 
these returns still more closely, his lordship must have 
observed that in the twelve assaults upon his posts made 
by these volunteer bands, they had killed, wounded, and 
taken nearly 500 ^ of his troops, at a loss to themselves not 
a third as great.^ That except in the battle of Camden 
itself the greatest loss to the Americans had been at Fish- 
ing Creek, where Sumter had been surprised and lost 460 

1 General Isaac linger and Major Thomas Pinckney. 
2 492. 8 1(52. 

VOL. in. — 2 / 



706 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

men ; but that on the very next day Shelby, Chirke, and 
Williams, with a loss to themselves of but 13 men, had 
killed, wounded, and taken 223, and the day after Marion 
had further added a capture of 183, with a loss of but two 
wounded, tlms bringing matters again nearly to equality. 
The results of the uprisings during these six Aveeks com- 
pletely dissipated the fond illusion that South Carolina 
was a conquered province.^ 

There was another cause which, in this connection, 
added greatly to Cornwallis's anxiety; and that was, be- 
sides the losses which the volunteers were inflicting upon 
his men, the climate was proving as unfriendly to them. It 
has been seen how the Seventy-first Regiment liad suffered 
at the Cheraws, 100 sick of them having been sent away 
by Major McArthur when he was ordered to leave that 
post, who fell into the hands of the Whigs. The return 
of this regiment on the 15th of August, the eve of the 

1 Governor Roosevelt in his Winnini/ of the West thus contemptu- 
ously disposes of what was done in South Carolina during this time : 
" Except for an occasional guerilla party there was not a single organized 
body of American troops left south of Gates's broken and dispirited 
army. All the Southern lands lay at the feet of the conqueror. The 
British leaders, overbearing and arrogant, held almo-st unchecked sway 
throughout the Carolinas and Georgia, and looking northward they made 
ready for the conquest of Virginia. Their right flank was covered by the 
waters of the ocean, their left by the high mountain barrier chains, 
beyond which stretched the interminable forest, and they had as little 
thought of danger from the one side as the other" (251, 252). 

The Governor can himself be as rash in his statements at times in 
regard to things of which he does not know as other authors whom he 
so .severely criticises as he writes. The truth is, there was no moment 
from Iluck's defeat at William.son's plantation on the 12th of July when 
a British outpost was not in danger of attack, and in constant appre- 
hension of it. There was, it is true, but one regularly organized corps, 
but there was that one — Davie's gallant little band — and around that 
Sumter was gathering his partisan corps ; and Marion was organizing his 
without even such a nucleus, and so were Clarke and Williams in the west. 



IN THK KKVULUTIUN 707 

battle of Canulen, told how their ranks had been thinned 
by death. The Fii-st Battalion mustered but 144, and the 
Second but 110 men present for duty. Major Wemyss's regi- 
ment, the Sixty-third, was greatly diminished by sickness.' 
In his dispatch to the government at liome, Cornwallis 
gave as the compelling reason which induced him to risk 
the battle, that if he had I'etreated, he must have aban- 
doned 800 sick at Camden. The effect of the climate was 
telling severely upon his officers. Lieutenant Colonel 
Tarleton had been sick of fever, and kept out of the field 
during the month before the battle, in which time much 
had been gained by the Whigs. He was now in the field 
again, but was soon to have a relapse, which would again 
deprive his lordship of his services. He himself was soon 
to suffer in an im[)ortant emergency from the same cause. 
The unerring rifle of the backwoodsman, and the malaria 
of the swamps and rivers of Carolina, were thus telling 
heavily against him. 

There was still another serious cause of disquietude and 
distrust. Sir Henry Clinton had inaugurated the attempt 
to subdue one part of the Americans by means of the other, 
so much urged by the people in England, and had left his 
lordship to carry it out. A large part of his force, 
therefore, consisted of Provincial regiments, that is, regi- 
ments enlisted in America. Several of these had been 
brought from the North. The British Legion under Tarle- 
ton had been organized at New York. Lord Rawdon's 
regiment, the Royal volunteers of Ireland, had been 
recruited and organized in Philadelphia while the British 
were in possession. ^ Ferguson's Provincials, or Rangers, 

1 Tark-ton's Campaigns, VM, 1.38, 101. 

2 Tlie field officersof the reniuieiit were Colonel Lord Hawdon, Lieutenant 
Colonel John Watson, Majors Despard and Joseph Campbell. " Battle of 
Eutaw Springs," The United Sen-ice Magazine. September, 1881, 323. 



708 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

were not a permanent corps, but made up for special ser- 
vice from three other Provincial corps, — the King's Ameri- 
can regiment raised in and around New York, the Queen's 
Rangers from Connecticut, and the New Jersey volun- 
teers.^ Turnbull's regiment, the New York volunteers 
or King's Third American Regiment, was from New York, 
organized in 1776, had fought with Montgomery in 1777, 
and was at the siege of Savannah in 1778. De Lancey's 
Provincial battalion was also from New Y''ork. Hamilton's 
and Bryan's regiments were from North Carolina. In ad- 
dition to these there were two more Provincial regiments 
raised principally, if not altogether, in South Carolina and 
Georgia. These were Lieutenant Colonel Browne's, whicli 
had fought so gallantly at the siege of Savannah, and 
another raised by Lieutenant Colonel Innes, the former 
Secretary of Lord William Campbell, who had been com- 
missioned in January, 1780. It has been seen what severe 
measures Lord Rawdon had considered it necessary to take 
to prevent desertion from his regiment, the Royal volun- 
teers from Ireland. Ferguson's were picked troops and 
were reliable, and Browne's corps had fought as gallantly at 
Hanging Rock as they had at Savannah. Turnbull's New 
Yorkers had withstood Sumter's attack at Rocky Mount, 
but the North Carolina Loyalists had been panic stricken 
at Hanging Rock, and Innes's South Carolinians routed 
at Musgrove's Mills. But these corps were all, with the 
exception of Bryan's North Carolina Loyalists, composed 
of enlisted men, hirelings of the class from wliicli common 
soldiers were usually obtained, and were good or bad 
troops, as they were well or ill disciplined in camp and 
handled in battle. Though doubtless inferior to tlie British 
regulars of tlie line, such as the Seventy-first and other 

> KiiK/s Mountain and its Heroes, 114, note, 287; "The Battle of 
Eutaw Springs," The United JService Matjazine, September, 1861, 311. 



IN THK REVOLUTION 709 

regiments under his command, they were, upon the whole, 
fairly reliable. But neither these nor liis regulars could 
be lecruited in this region ; and the Loyal militia upon 
which Sir Henry Clinton's attempted policy was based and 
entirely depended, he found to be utterly untrustworthy. 
The two instances in which, after having been organized 
and armed as such, a large number had gone over in 
a body to the enemy — the cases of Colonel Lisle's bat- 
talion and Colonel Mills's regiment — were but conspicu- 
ous examples, on a large scale, of what was going on all 
the time in smaller numbers and single cases. The revolt 
was spreading — those who were before indifferent were 
now siding with the Whigs, and many who had joined 
the Royal standard were deserting to the Americans. 
Sumter and Marion and Davie and Williams had, by their 
examples, aroused the patriotism of the people to resist the 
invadeis of the country, regardless of the original cause of 
the war. It was not now a question of a tax upon tea or 
representation in Parliament, but of resistance to the tyr- 
anny, cruelty, and brutality of the British army. Those 
leaders had kindled a flame which was now ablaze from 
the mountain to the seacoast. 

Confronted with this unexpected rising of the people 
he had supposed to be conquered, and alarmed at his own 
situation, anger seems to have assumed the place of Lord 
Cornwallis's better judgment. A few days after the battle 
of Camden he issued the following vehement, unjust, and 
unwise order to the commandants of the several posts : ^ — 

"I have given orders that all the inhabitants of this Province who 
have snbscribed and have taken part in the revolt should be punished 
with the greatest rigour; and also those who will not turn out that 
they may be imprisoned and their whole property taken from them 

i Ramsay's litcutitUun, 157. 



710 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

or destroyed. I have likewise ordered that compensation sliould be 
made out of their estates to the persons who have been injured or 
oppressed by them. I have ordered in the most positive manner that 
every militiaman who has borne arms with us and afterwards joined 
tlie enemy shall be immediately hanged. I desire you will take tlie 
most rigorous measures to punish the rebels in the district in whicli 
you command, and that you obey in the strictest manner the direc- 
tions I have given in this letter relative to the inhabitants of this 
country. (Signed) 

" CORNWALLIS." 

Steadman, the British historian, usually so fair in his 
comments, justifies this order of Lord Cornwallis because 
of the number of militia who had joined in the revolt after 
exclianging their paroles for protections and swearing alle- 
giance to the British government.^ Doubtless all who had 
taken protections and renewed their allegiance to the Brit- 
ish government and afterwards joined the Whigs, took 
their lives in their hands, and were amenable to the 
utmost severity of the British commander, should they fall 
into his hands. But the order did not restrict the rigor of 
punishment it authorized and enjoined to that class. It 
embraced not only those, but all who had "subscribed." 
It therefore applied to those who liad "subscribed" their 
paroles as well as those who had taken protection ; and 
with regard to tliem this author himself had in a few 
pages before ^ condemned the folly and injustice of Sir 
Henry Clinton's proclamation of the 3d of June which, 
without the consent of those who liad given them, abro- 
gated their paroles, and in one instant converted them 
either into loyal subjects or rebels. It cannot be denied 
that by this proclamation Sir Henry Clinton had released 
these persons from the paroles they had subscribed, and 
it was these which Lord Cornwallis now ordered to be 
punished as traitors for having availed themselves of the 

» Hisl. of the Am. War (Steadman), vol. II, 214. 2 /ftj^., i98. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 711 

release he had forced upon them. But even in the cases 
of those who were charged with having gone fartlier and 
taken protection, and then returned to revolt, it was but 
proper that some judicial examination should be had upon 
reliable testimony to determine the fact of guilt. Hut offi- 
cers receiving the order considered themselves bound by 
no such requirement. At Camden, under the very eyes 
of Cornwallis himseif, Samuel Andrews, Richard Tucker, 
John Miles, Josiah Gayle, Eleazer Smith, with .others whose 
names were unknown, were taken out of jail and hanged 
without any ceremony whatsoever; others were indulged 
with a hearing before a court-martial instituted by his 
lordship for the trial of prisoners ; but the evidences 
against them were not examined on oath, and slaves Avere 
both permitted and encouraged to accuse their masters. 
Not only at Camden, but in other parts of South Carolina 
and at Augusta in Georgia the same bloody tragedies were 
enacted, and many of the inhabitants fell sacrifices to this 
new mode of warfare.^ 

The Loyalist chiefs were as much alarmed as Corn- 
wallis at the unexpected uprising of the Whigs in the face 
of the British army, and at the spreading contagion of 
enthusiasm aroused by the example of their leaders. To 
meet this Ferguson called a convention of the Loyalist 
militia to enter into a new covenant and agreement of 
allegiance. Five days after the battle of Musgrove's Mills, 
while he was encamped at Fair Forest in the Brandon 
settlement, the meeting took place there. At this meet- 
ing the North Carolina battalion and the six South Caro- 
lina militia l)attalions — Cuningham's, Kirkland's, Clary's, 
King's, Gibbs's, and Plummer's — were represented, and 
the following agreement was entered into : — 

•1 Ramsay's RcvnhUion of So. Co., vol. II, 158. 



712 HISTORY OK SOUTH CAROLINA 

"That every man who does not assemble when required in defence 
of his country in order to act with tlie other good subjects serving in 
the militia, exposes his comrades to unnecessary danger, abandons 
the Royal cause, and acts a treacherous part to the country in which 
he lives; and it is the unanimous opinion that whoever quits his 
battalion or disobeys the order of the officers commanding is a worse 
traitor and enemy to liis King and country than those rebels who 
again in arms after having taken protection and deserves to be treated 
accordingly; and we do therefore empower the officers commanding 
in camp, as well as the officers commanding our several battalions of 
militia, from time to time to cause the cattle and grain of all such 
officers and men as basely fail to assemble and muster as required in 
times of public danger, or who quit their battalion without leave, to 
be brought to camp for the use of those who pay their debt to the 
country by their personal services; and we do also empower the said 
commanding officers, and do require tliem, that they will secure the 
arms and horses of such delinquents and put them in possession of 
men who are better disposed to use them in defence of their country, 
and that they will bring such traitors to trial in order that they may 
be punished as they deserve and turned out of the militia with dis- 
grace. . . . 

" It was also unanimously resolved by every officer and man now 
in camp of all the above-named regiments that whenever a man shall 
neglect to assemble, and to do liis duty in the militia when summoned 
for public service, shall be made to serve in the regular troops, it 
being the unanimous opinion of every man present that it is the duty 
of all who call themselves subjects to assist in the defence of the 
country one way or the other." ^ 

The condition of the inhabitants of Charlestown was 
somewhat different from that of those of the country. 
By the terms of the capituhition (Article 9), with respect 
to tlieir property in the city, they were allowed the same 
terms as were granted to the militia, which (Article 4) 
were that as long as they obseived their paroles they 
should be secure from being molested in their property. 

^ This paper was found by Colonel Sevier at King's Mountain in the 
possession of a Tory colonel. Kanisey's Aniials of Tennessee, '2\6 ; Ki)iifs 
Mountain and Us Heroes, 143. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 718 

But tliose of them who owned estates in the country had 
no security by the capituhition for any property beyond 
the lines, unless they submitted and returned to their 
allegiance. It seems to have been assumed that the citi- 
zens of the town were not included in the proclamation 
of the 3d of June, and so were not required by it to choose 
between tlie alternative of accepting the condition of lojal 
subjects or declaring themselves enemies. Other methods 
were therefore devised to compel them to renew their 
allegiance to the King. The addressors of Sir Henry 
Clinton were said to have instigated these measures, com- 
plaining to the British rulers "that none had proper en- 
couragement to return to their allegiance while prisoners 
were suffered to remain with their families and enjoy 
privileges which in their opinion should be monopolized 
by the friends of the Royal government.*' ^ To oblige 
these paroled citizens in the town to return to their alle- 
giance, a succession of orders had been issued, each abridg- 
ing tlieir privileges. Subjects were allowed to sue for 
their debts before a Board of Police, which was establislicd 
and presided over b}- James Simpson, Intendant.^ Paroled 
citizens were denied all benefit of that court ; though they 
were liable to suits themselves, they had no security for 
the payment ef debts due them but the honor of their 
debtors. The limits of their paroles after the surrender 
of the town were much more restricted than they had 
expected. They were restrained from going out of the 
lines or on the water without special permission ; and this 
when ap[)lied for was sometimes wantonly refused, and 
on other occasions granted only on tlie payment of mone}-. 
Mechanics and other artisans were allowed for some time 

1 Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 118. 

- James Simpson was the hust attorney general under the Royal gov- 
ernment (Z//*t. of So. Ca. under lioy. Gov. [McCradyJ, 804). 



714 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

after the suirencler to follow their respective occupations ; 
but as they could not control payment for their services, 
repeated losses soon convinced them of the convenience 
of accepting British protection ; indeed, they were soon 
prohibited from plying their trades without permission. 
Those inhabitants wlio were shopkeepers were, while pris- 
oners, encouraged to make purchases from the British 
merchants who came with the conquering army, and after 
they had contracted large debts of this kind were pre- 
cluded by proclamation from selling the goods they had 
purchased unless they assumed the name and character 
of British subjects. 

Great numbers in all communities, observes Ramsay,^ are 
wholly indifferent as to the form of government under which 
they live. They can always turn with the times and sub- 
mit with facility to the present ruling power, whatsoever it 
may be. The depressed condition of American affairs in 
the summer of 1780 induced the belief among many that 
Congress, from necessity or otherwise, had abandoned the 
idea of contending for the Southern States. The resolu- 
tions of that body disavowing this imputation were care- 
fully concealed from the prisoners. Many believing that 
South Carolina Avould finally remain a British province, 
and determined to save their estates under ever}^ form of 
government, concluded that the sooner they submitted the 
less they would lose. A party always sincerely attached 
to the Royal government, though they had conformed to 
the laws of the State, rejoiced in the overthrow of the 
Revolutionists and sincerely returned to their allegiance ; 
but their number was inconsiderable in comparison with 
the multitude who were obliged by necessity or induced 
by convenience to accept of British protection.^ 

1 Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II. 120. 
^ Ibid., 120, 121. 



IN THE KEVOLUTIUN 715 

liiigadie^- General Patterson had, since the surrender, up 
to tliis time been Coniniaiidantof C'harlestown. lie was now 
relieved on account of ill healtli, and Lieutenant Colonel 
Nisbit Balfour, of his Majesty's Twenty-third Regiment, 
was appointed in his place. ^ This gentleman, says Ram- 
say, having raised himself in the army by his obsequious 
devotedness to the humors and pleasures of Sir William 
Howe, displayed in the exercise of the new office the 
frivolous self-importance and insolence which are natural 
to little minds when puffed up by sudden elevation and 
employed on functions to which their abilities are not 
equal. By the subversion of every trace of the popular 
government, without any proper civil government in its 
place, he, witli a few coadjutors, assumed and exercised 
legislative, judicial, and executive powers over citizens in 
the same manner as over the common soldiery under their 
command. Proclamations were issued by his authority, 
which militated as well against the principles of the British 
constitution as those of justice, equity, and humanity. For 
light offences, and on partial and insufficient information, 
citizens were confined by his orders, and that often without 
trial. 2 

All the original leaders of the Revolution who were yet 
living, with the exception of a very few who had taken 
protection, were still prisoners upon parole, but confined 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 157, 158. 

••2 Ilainsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. IF, 203, 204. 

Sim ins, in his historical novel Katliariiic Walton, observes that the 
record which fails to toll of his achievements in battle is somewhat more 
copious in other matters. This was Colonel Balfour's reputation in South 
Carolina ; but it must be observed, nevertheless, that he took part 
and was wounded in both the battles of Bunker Hill and Long Island, 
and afterwards served in Holland and Flanders, and became a Lieutenant 
(ieneral in the British army. CliHton-CorHwallis Controversy, vol. II, 
407. 



716 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to the limits of Charlestown. Though restrained by their 
paroles from doing anything injurious to the interest of his 
Britannic Majesty, the silent example of these men who were 
revered by their fellow-citizens, exerted a powerful influ- 
ence in restraining many from exchanging their paroles 
for the protection and privileges of British subjects, and 
encouraged the spirit of resistance which was now finding 
its way through the swamps, even to the confines of the 
capital held by the conquerors. To put an end to this 
source of trouble, Lord Cornwallis determined to send a 
number of the principal of these into exile. He issued his 
orders accordingly, and early on Sunday morning, the 27th 
day of August, thirty-three of these prisoners on parole 
were suddenly seized in their houses by armed soldiers 
under the direction of Major Benson and Captain Mc- 
Mahon.i These were Christopher Gadsden, the Lieutenant 



1 This was the famous and infamous Sir John McMahon, the pander 
and pimp of his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales (George IV). He 
was the natural son of a butler in the family of Lord Leitrim, his mother 
being a chambermaid in tiie same family. From the position of kitchen 
boy, he made his way to the position of exciseman ; became a petty 
clerk in tlie treasury ; dismissed with di-sgrace, he joined a company of 
strolling players ; then became a servant of Mr. William English, a noted 
character of the time, in whose service he first developed his genius for 
intrigue, assisting in the designs of his master upon the wives and daugh- 
ters of his neighbors ; chastised by his master, he left his service, and 
volunteered in a regiment then on the eve of departing for America. In 
that regiment he attracted the attention of Lord Rawdon, an officer in it. 
who soon discovered his tact in intrigue, and for services rendered his 
lordship was rewarded with an ensigncy. From the emoluments of 
deputy commissary he was enabled to purchase a company, and was now 
Captain John McMahon. His subsequent career is notorious. Intnv 
duced to the Prince of Wales by Lord Rawdon, tlien the Earl of Moira. 
he so ingratiated himself with his Royal Highness by di.sgraoeful services 
that he became Keeper of the Privy Purse, the companion and confidant 
of the heir to the throne. Mpmnirs of George the Fourth, by Robert 
Hui.sh (London, 1830), 404-407, 508. 



IN THE KKVOLUTKJX 717 

Governor, Thomas Farr, late Speaker, Tliomas Ferguson, 
Anthony Toonier, Alexander Moultrie, Jaeob Read, Richard 
Ilutson, Edward Blake, Edward Rutledge, Isaac Holmes, 
Richard Lushiugton, Peter Timothy, John Edwards, Hugh 
Rutledge, Thomas Savage, John Floyd, William Price, 
Thomas Hey ward, Jr., William Hasell Gibbes, Edward Mc- 
Crady, David Ramsay, John Todd, George Flagg, Peter 
Fa3-ssoux, Josiah Smith, Jr., John Parker, John Sansum, 
John Ernest Poj^as, John Budd, John Loveday, Thomas 
Singleton, Edward North, and Joseph Atkinson.^ These 
citizens were at first taken by armed soldiers to the upper 
part of the Exchange ^ and there detained under guard for 
some liours, when they were conveyed to the armed ship 
Safuhrich under command of Captain William Bett moored 
near Fort Johnson, who appeared to be unapprised of their 
coming, but who received them courteously, and went him- 
self to the town and obtained leave of Lieutenant Colonel 
Balfour, the commandant, to allow the friends of the 
prisoners to furnish them with bedding and to visit them. 
Not in the least conscious of having broken their paroles 
or in any manner given occasion for such treatment, upon 
consultation it was determined to prepare a memorial 
inquiring the cause of their arrest. This was done, and 
the next day it was sent to Colonel Balfour through the 
liands of Captain Bett. 

This memorial stated that the subscribers were citizens 
of Charlestown, that by the articles of capitulation agreed 

1 This list is tliat given by Tarleton (Campaigns, 185). It contains 
till- iiamos of four pei-sons found in no other list, and who are not men- 
tioned by Josiah Smith in his Diary. These are Thomas Farr, Jolm 
Floyd, William Price, and Joseph Atkinson. These were probably in- 
cluded in the order, but for some cause were either not arrested or were 
immediately relea.sed. 

* The Old Postoffice at the foot of Rr>.a<l Street. The Exchange in 
the lower .story of which the fust Provincial Conventions were held. 



718 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to by Sir Henry Clinton, citizens were to be considered as 
prisoners of war on parole, and to be secured in their per- 
sons and property whilst they observed their paroles ; 
after the surrender they severally gave their paroles, 
acknowledging themselves to be prisoners of war upon 
parole to his Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, and thereb}'- 
engaged, until exchanged or otherwise released therefrom, 
to remain in Charlestown until permitted to go out by the 
commandant, and that they should not, in the meantime, 
do or cause to be done anything prejudicial to the success 
of his Majesty's arms, or have intercourse or hold corre- 
spondence with his enemies, and to surrender themselves 
when required.^ This parole the memorialists stated they 
had endeavored strictly to observe, nor were they con- 
scious of the least violation of it — notwithstanding which, 
on Sunday, the 27th instant, early in the morning, the me- 
morialists were suddenly arrested and carried to instant 
confinement in the Exchange, from which, two or three 

1 The following is the form of paroles given (Johnson's Traditions, 
267) : — 

"I do hereby acknowledge myself to be a prisoner of war, upon my 
parole, to his Excellency, Sir Henry Clinton, and that I am thereby 
engas^ed, until I shall be exchanged, or otherwise released therefrom, to 
remain in the town of Charlestown, unless when permitted to go out by 
the commandant ; and that I shall not in the meantime do, or cause any- 
tlnng to be done, prejudicial to the success of his majesty's arms, or have 
intercourse or hold correspondence with his enemies ; and that upon a 
summons from his Excellency, or other person having authority thereto, 
that I will surrender myself to him or them at such time and place, as I 
shall hereafter be required. 

" Witness my hand this 2l8» day of May, 1780. 

" W? JOHKSOV. 

" I do hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the parole this 
day signed by 

" Maj. Stkwart, 

"Com'y of Pris'". 
" Witness. John Massey. " 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 719 

hours afterwards, they were put into boats and carried on 
board the tSdndtcich guardship. 

The memorialists went on to say that they could not 
conjecture the reasons of such extraordinary severity, nor 
by what means they had forfeited the privileges expressly 
secured to them by the articles of capitulation ; they re- 
quested that a full and speedy inquiry might be made, and 
desired to know what was the nature of their offence, and 
who was their accuser.^ 

This memorial Captain Bett took to the town to lay 
before Colonel Balfour, the commandant; but while he 
was gone Major Benson came on board the SandioicK find 
presented to Mr. Gadsden, without date or signature, a 
paper which was as follows : — 

" (iKNTLE.MKX : 111 obedieiice to tlie order of the commandant I am 
to inform you that my Lord Coniwallis, being highly incensed at the 
late perfidious revolt of many of the inhabitants of this province, and 
Ijeing well informed by papers that have fallen into his hands since 
the defeat of the rebel army of the means that have been taken by 
several people on parole in Charlestown to promote and ferment their 
spirit of rebellion, his lordship, in order to secure the quiet of the 
province, finds himself under the necessity to direct the commandant 
to order several persons to change their place of residence on parole 
from Charlestown to St. Augustine; his lordship has further directed 
that a proper vessel shall be provided to carry their baggage with 
them." '^ 

The gentlemen prisoners on board the Sandwich re- 
ceived no direct reply to their memorial. The British 
historians, Tarleton and Steadman, represent that the let- 
ters found on the officers of (ieneral Gates's army implicated 
these gentlemen as violators of their paroles.^ But it will 

1 Diary of Josiah Smith, Jr., one of the exiles. MSS., Coll. So. Ca. 
Hist. Soc. 
« Ibid. 
» Tarleton's Campaigns, 15G ; Rteadman's .l??i. War, vol. II, 214. 



720 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

be observed that in this paper presented to them by order 
of Balfour, and doubtless dictated by him, Lord Cornwallis 
makes no such specific charge. His statement — for it is 
not a charge — is that he has ascertained that several people 
on parole in Charlestown were promoting and ferment- 
ing a spirit of rebellion, and that he has, therefore, found 
it necessary to change the place of the residence of these 
particular gentlemen to St. Augustine. Not only is there 
no such specific charge, but his conduct and the character 
of the measures taken by him, however harsh and incon- 
venient, preclude the idea that he had obtained an}'- infor- 
mation upon which to base such an accusation. He who 
had just ordered that all the inhabitants of the province 
who had subscribed pai'oles and had taken pait in the 
revolt be punished with the greatest vigor and in the 
most positive manner, enjoined that every one who had 
borne arms with the British and afterwards joined the 
Rebels should be hanged, and had allowed several citizens 
to be hanged without trial or ceremony in his presence 
at Camden, would not have hesitated to hang Gads- 
den and the rest of those he was now sending into exile, 
if he had had the least tangible evidence that they had 
violated their paroles. Indeed, Lord Cornwallis appears 
to have been desirous of disclaiming, in advance, such an 
imputation, for on the evening of the same day Captain 
McMahon came on board the Sandivich and delivered in 
the hearing of the prisoners a verbal message : " That 
Lord Cornwallis considered the persons sent on board this 
ship to be their prisoners on parole ; but for reasons of 
policy thinks it necessary the place of their residence shall 
be changed from Chailestown to St. Augustine. Those 
who think this proceeding an infringement of the capitu- 
lation are to be considered as piisoners on board, and as 
such to be delivered at St. Augustine ; those who dissent 



IN THE REVOLUTION 721 

tlicrefroin are to set down their names." It is clear from 
tiiis indirect rei)ly to their memorial that the exile of 
these citizens was a matter of policy, and not a sentence 
of punishment; and that his lordship, so far from charg- 
ing a violation of their parole on the part of these partic- 
ular citizens, was endeavoring to maintain the position 
that he himself was conforming to its terms. 

Not only did Christopher (Jadsden and the others thus 
taken regard their arrest as a breach of the terms of their 
capitulation, but General Moultrie, himself a prisoner at 
the time, and sul)ject to the resentment of tlie British 
authorities, did not hesitate to protest against their action. 
On the 1st of September he wrote to Lieutenant Colonel 
Balfour as follows : — 

" SiK : On piM'iising the paper of the 29th of August of Robertson, 
McDouahl, and Canimeron publislied by authority, to my astonish- 
ment I tind a paragraph to this effect : ' The following is a correct 
list of the prisoners sent on board the Sandwich yesterday morning,' 
and underneatli the names of the most respectable gentlemen inhabit- 
ants of this State, most of wliose characters I am so well acquainted 
witli tiiat I cannot believe they would have been guilty of any breach 
of tiu'ir parole or any article of tlie capitulation, or done anything to 
justify so vigorous a proceeding against them. I therefore think it my 
duty as the senior Continental officer prisoner under the capitulation 
to demand a release of those gentlemen particularly such as are en- 
titled to tlie lienefit of that act. This harsh proceeding demands my 
particular attention, and 1 do, therefore, in beiialf of the United States 
of .\merica, require that they be admitted immediately to return to 
their paroles; as their being hurried on board a prison ship and I 
fear without being heard is a violation of the ninth article of the 
capitulation. If this demand cannot be complied with, I am to reipiest 
that I may have leave to send an officer to Congress to present this 
grievance, that they may interpose in behalf of these gentlemen in 
the manner they shall think proper. 

" I am, etc., 

" Wm. MoiLTKIE." 
VOL. III. — 3 a 



722 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLIXA 

To this letter Colonel Balfour curtly replied through 
Major Benson that the commandant would not return any 
answer to a letter written in such exceptionable and unwar- 
rantable terms as that to him from General Moultrie dated 
the 1st instant; nor will he receive any further applica- 
tion from liim upon the subject.^ The position Lord 
Cornwallis assumed was that he had the right for reasons 
of policy to change the place of residence of an}' citizen 
on parole. This the exiles and General Moultrie denied; 
and American writers have since agreed with them and 
maintained that this act of his lordship was a violation on 
his part of tlie terms of surrender. A candid examination 
of the parole itself in connection with the articles of capitu- 
lation will, however, scarcely sustain this position. Lin- 
coln, under the pressure of Gadsden, had long stood out 
for the stipulation that upon the surrender citizens and all 
other persons then in town who were inhabitants of the 
State should be secured in their persons and properties, 
and not be considered prisoners of war. But this condi- 
tion Sir Henry Clinton had at first refused ; and had at 
last only consented to the stipulation that "all civil offi- 
cers and citizens who have borne arms during the siege 
must be prisoners on parole, and with respect to their prop- 
erty shall have the same terms as are granted to the 
militia; and all other persons now in town not described 
in this or other articles are, notwithstanding, understood to 
be prisoners on parole." Lincoln had proposed that the 
militia should be permitted to return to their respective 
homes and be secured in their persons and property, but 
this Sir Henry Clinton had refused, and had only agreed 
that "the militia should be permitted to return to their 
respective liomcs as prisoners of war on parole, which 
parole as long as they observe shall secure them from being 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. 11, 133, 139. 



IN THE DEVOLUTION 723 

molested i7i their properti/ by the British troops." ^ Sir 
Henry thus refused to stipulate that even the militia 
should be secured in their persons. He had been asked to 
do so and had declined. He had agreed that as long as 
they observed their paroles they should not be molested in 
their property^ but over their persons he had refused to 
forego control. To civil officers and citizens who had 
borne arms he extended tlie same terms, to all others in 
tlie town he granted onl}- the privileges of a parole. An 
examination also of the form of the certificate signed by 
tliese gentlemen will show that this control of their per- 
sons was expressly retained. The certificate thus con- 
cluded "that upon a summons from his Excellency (Sir 
Henry Clinton), or other person having authority thereto, 
that I will surrender myself to him at such time and place 
as I shall hereafter be required." This clause expressly 
provided for the surrender of the person giving the parole 
at any time and place where required. However unwise 
and unjust this action of Lord C'ornwallis, his right to take 
it in the exercise of his own discretion as a conqueror 
without violating the terms upon which he had obtained 
the surrender of the town, cannot be justly denied. 

The announcement that all persons who regarded their 
arrest and exile as an infringement of the capitulation 
were to be regarded as close prisoners on the ship, and 
as sucli were to be delivered at St. Augustine, occasioned 
some consternation among the company ; and before they 
could come to any determination in regard to it. Captain 
McMahon withdrew to his boat and went to town without 
an answer. 

On Wednesday, the 30tli of August, ten other citi- 
zens, to wit: Rev. John Lewis, John Neufville, William 
Johnson, Thomas Grimball, Robert Cochran, Thomas Hall, 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, lfMI-102. 



724 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

William Hall, William Livingston, John Mouat, and James 
Hamden Thomson, were also seized. These were taken to 
the transport ship Fidelity. Dr. Fayssoux, as belonging 
to the Continental Hospital, and Mr. Thomas Savage, oil 
account of his health, were permitted to return to their 
homes again. 

The parties on the two ships daily received supplies 
from their friends in town, who were also allowed to visit 
them. The exiles and their friends were treated with great 
courtesy by Captain Bett and his officers. Captain Bett 
entertaining his prisoners in the evening at his own table 
in turn as room was made. On Sunda}^ the 3d of Sep- 
tember, the ships were crowded with the families and 
friends of the prisoners, bidding them farewell, as they 
were to sail the next day ; and in the evening the twenty- 
nine first arrested were transferred from Captain Bett's 
hospitable charge to the transport ship Fidelity., where 
they found the ten others added to their compan}-. 
Mr. Alexander Moultrie was permitted to take passage 
with his family in a schooner which accompanied the 
transport. The exiles were allowed to take with them 
servants, and these added twenty-six to the number of 
passengers; so that with the crew and soldiers sent to 
defend the ship, should it be attacked, the whole num- 
bered 106 souls. The transport was not large enough 
to accommodate so many, and the exiles were much 
crowded and annoved also by their proximity to the live- 
stock taken on board for their support at St. Augustine. 
But these inconveniences were insignificant in view of 
the calamity of their separation from their families, and 
forced abandonment of them to the mercies of an irritated 
and cruel foe. 

On Monday, the 4th of September, Captain Abbot with 
another officer came on board the Fidelity, and calling tlie 



IN THE REVOLUTION 725 

prisoners together presented for their consideration the 
foUowing written pri)[)Osition: — 

•■ Will the gentlemen bound for St. Augustine accept of their 
paroles ? I consider the word parole to mean that the gentlemen 
while on board and at St. Augustine are not to do anything whatever 
prejudicial to his Majesty's service. If the gentlemen are not retaken, 
it is not expected that they are to return to any part of America 
under the British government, but are to consider themselves on 
parole." 

This was banishment indeed ; but all the gentlemen, ex- 
cept Christopher Gadsden, accepted the terms and agreed 
to give their paroles. The ship's deck was cleared, and in 
the evening she dropped down near to SulU van's Island 
with her freight of imprisoned patriots, sailed the next day, 
and reached St. Augustine on the 8th of September. The 
day after their arrival, the exiles were landed and paraded 
before the Governor, Patrick Ton3-n, and the commandant 
of the post, Lieutenant C'olonel Glazier, when, all on both 
sides being uncovered, the commandant asked if they had 
considered the parole required of them ; all but Gadsden 
expressed a readiness to comply with it, but suggested 
some minor alteration in the paper proposed. These were 
not allowed, and the paroles as dictated were signed by all 
but Gadsden. lie indignantly refused, and with the hero- 
ism of his character dauntlessly exclaimed: "With men 
who have once deceived me, I can enter into no new con- 
tract. Had tlie Britisli commanders regarded the terms 
of the cai)itulation of Charlestown, I migiit now, although 
a prisoner under my own roof, have enjoyed the smiles and 
consolations of my surrounding family, but even without 
a sliadow of accusation proffered against me for any act 
inconsistent with my pligiited faith I am torn from them, 
and here in a distant land invited to enter into new en- 
gagements. I will give no parole." "Think better of it. 



726 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

sir," said the officer; "a second refusal of it will fix your 
destiny — a dungeon will be your futui'e habitation." 
"Prepare it, then," said the inflexible patriot; "I will 
give no parole, so help me God f ^^ Upon this refusal he 
was immediately conducted to the Castle at St. Augustine, 
where he was thrown into a dungeon in which he was con- 
fined for forty-two weeks,^ until exchanged with the rest 
of the exiles in July, 1781. While the other gentlemen 
were subject to many petty annoyances and small tyrannies 
from different officers, they were, upon the whole, fairly 
well treated during their exile. They were allowed to 
hire houses and form messes into which they divided tlieir 
company, and to receive remittances and supplies from 
home. And as they were all, with few exceptions, men 
of some fortune, they lived there without any great suffer- 
ing and with perhaps as little inconvenience as possible 
for men restrained of their liberty and deprived of the 
comforts and society of their homes. Their greatest dep- 
rivation no doubt was in the denial of free correspondence 
with their families and friends. The conmiunications 
between them were frequent, but subject to the supervision 
of the British authorities. Mr. Jacob Read was arrested 
and confined in a cell next to that of Christopher Gadsden, 
because of imprudent expressions in some of his letters to 
his friends wliich fell under the eyes of liis keepers.^ 

In furtherance of his purpose indicated in his letter from 
Camden to the commandants of districts, that compensa- 
tion should be made out of their estates to the pei'sons 
claiming to liave been ijijured by the Whigs, Lord Corn- 
wallis on the 6th of September issued a proclamation recit- 
ing that, notwithstanding the moderation of tlie Britisli 

1 Josiah Smith's Diary ; Garden's Anecdotes, 1G9 ; Memoir of Gads- 
den, Coll. So. Ca. Hist. Soc, vol. IV. 

2 Josiah Smith's Diary. 



IN THE KKVOLUTION 727 

government and his Majesty's unparalleled clemency to 
his deluded subjects, who, from a sense of their errors, 
had returned to their duty and allegiance, there were 
several persons of property in the province who obstinately 
pei-sisted in their guilty and treasonable practices, and 
were either in the service or acting under the authority of 
the rebel Congress, or bj' abandoning their plantations to 
join the enemies of Great Britain, or by an open avowal 
of rebellious principles, manifested a wicked and desperate 
perseverance in opposing to the utmost of their power the 
rei'stablisliment of his Majesty's just and lawful authoritjs 
and as it "was of dangerous consequence to suffer such 
pei-sons to possess and make use of their estates in the 
province, thereby furnishing them with the means of 
carrying their malicious and traitorous designs more effec- 
tually into execution, and as it was likewise just and expe- 
dient that the property which such persons had voluntarily 
staked in support of rebellion should now be applied to de- 
fray a portion of the expenses occasioned by their actions, 
ordered that all the estates, both real and personal, in the 
province, belonging to such persons be sequestered, and 
appointed Johu Cruden to be commissioner to execute the 
purposes of the proclamation, and to seize and take posses- 
sion of the estates of all such persons. From motives of 
humanity and compassion, the proclamation declared, his 
lordship authorized the commissioner to pay for the sup- 
port and maintenance of families consisting of a wife and 
children, one-fourth part of the net annual product of the 
sequestered estates, and one-sixth part in case of a wife 
without children.^ 

This measure, with the others mentioned prohibiting the 
pursuit of any industries except by those uiuler renewed 
allegiance to the Crown, was tnuch more effective than 
^ Tarleton's Campaigns^ 18G. 



728 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the exile of the leaders of the Revolution, as appears in a 
notice published in the Royal South- Carolina Gazette^ on 
the 21st of September. This notice recites that several 
memorials and petitions had been presented to the com- 
mandant of Charlestown by sundr}^ persons, setting forth 
that they were desirous to show every mark of allegiance 
and attachment in their power to his Majesty's person and 
government, to which they were most well affected, and 
prayed that they might have an opportunity to evince the 
sincerity of their professions; that these memorials and peti- 
tions had been referred to gentlemen of known loyalty and 
integrity, as well as knowledge of the persons and charac- 
ter of the inhabitants for their report of the manner in 
which the memorialists had previousl}'^ conducted them- 
selves ; and upon their report the persons whose names 
were published would receive certificates which would 
entitle them to use the free exercise of their trades or pro- 
fessions and the privileges enjoyed by other loyal inhabit- 
ants of Charlestown. The names of 163 citizens Avere 
appended to this notice. Most of these were tradesmen 
and mechanics, whom stern necessity compelled to submit 
to the terms upon which only they would be allowed to 
labor for the maintenance of their families. Some of them 
w^ere merchants of whom Ramsay speaks, and a consider- 
able number were foreigners. A few were of families of 
influence, who had probably given in to save their estates, 
and some of these, no doubt, could truthfully assert that 
they had had no intention of abandoning their allegiance 
to the King in their struggle for liberty. The list of these 
names was headed by the British officials with that of 
Daniel Huger, who was one of the Council who liad gone 
out of the town during the siege with Governor Rutledge 

1 The Royal South-Carolina Gazette, printed by Robertson, Mac- 
donald & Cameron, by authority of the Royal army. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 729 

to maintain the organization of the government in other 
parts of the State, lie with his colleague, Colonel Charles 
Pinekney, appears to have given up the cause as lost, and 
both took protection. The names of Benjamin Dart, 
John Dart, John Waring, Elias Ilorr}", Gabriel Manigault, 
Jr., Francis Huger, Thomas Brandford Smith, William 
Roper, Thomas Hoper, Charles Freer, William Stanyarne, 
John Raven Stanyarne, Thomas Gibbes, Elisha Bonneau, 
Wade Hampton, Benjamin Darrell, Jacob Bonnell, Edward 
Hannahan, Joseph Dill, Thomas Radcliffe, Jr., Elisha Poin- 
sett, Nicholas Venning, and Charles Lowndes are also found 
in this list. One, at least, of these. Wade Hampton, was 
yet to have a distinguished part in the struggle on behalf 
of the cause of his countrymen. 

There were others in the town and country who could 
be swerved from the cause they had espoused by no threats 
or inducements. John Cruden had been appointed Com- 
missioner of Sequestered Estates under the proclamation 
of Cornwallis, and on the SOth of December he published 
in the Royal Gazette a notice that in consequence of the 
powers in him vested b}' his lordship, he makes public to 
all whom it may concern that he had given the necessary 
orders for the seizure of the estates, both real and personal 
(excepting such property in Charlestown as was secured to 
those who were in town at the time of this capitulation), 
of the Rev. Robert Smith, John Mathews, William Gibbes, 
Thomas Savage, John lul wards, Thomas Shubrick, Arnol- 
dus Vanderhorst, Richard Hutson, William Parker, Alex- 
ander Gillon, Henry Huse, Richard Withers, Stephen 
Drayton, Joseph Legard, James Neilson, Benjamin Cattell, 
William Sanders, Joseph Slann, Hawkins Martin, Samuel 
Sligh, Isaac Ford, Charles Middleton,^ Francis Goodwin, 

' 'IMiis was jtrobably Ch.arles S. Myddleton of St. Matthew's, Orange- 
hiirgli. aft<'rwanis (^ulonel in Sumter's brigade State troops. No other 
Charles Middleton appears at this time. 



730 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Thomas Ziegler, and John Sanders. He strictly prohibits 
any one attempting to conceal or remove such property, 
and forbids the payment of debts due to these persons, 
requiring every one indebted to them to furnish him with 
an account of such indebtedness. And the more effectu- 
ally to prevent any collusive practices, Cruden went on to 
promise "to all those who may make discoveries of the 
concealment of negroes, horses, cattle, plate, household 
furniture, books, bonds, deeds, etc., so that the property 
may be secured and the delinquents punished, a generous 
reward." ^ 

Notwithstanding these discouragements, observes Ram- 
say, the genius of America rose superior to them all. At 
no time did her sons appear to greater advantage than when 
they were depressed by successive misfortunes. They 
seemed to gain strength from their losses, and, instead 
of giving way to the pressure of calamities, to oppose 
them with more determined resolution. From the day of 
the disaster of the army under Gates, notwithstanding 
Cornwallis's repressive and cruel measures, the ruthless 
hanging of citizens without even the form of trial at Cam- 
den, the exile of others from Charlestown, the prohibition 
of honest labor, and the confiscation of estates, the prospects 
of liberty in South Carolina brightened. Elated with vic- 
tory, the conquerors grew more insolent and rapacious, 
while the real friends of independence became resolute 
and determined. There can be little doubt that upon the 
whole Cornwallis's civil administration lost more of the 
friends of his Majesty's government than his victories had 
subdued of his enemies. 

1 See also Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 171. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

1780 

There was now no organized bod}'^ of armed Whigs in 
Soutli Carolina ; but just across the North Carolina line 
Sumter was gathering his dispersed troopers around Da- 
vie's faithful little band. Shelby and Clarke and Williams 
were planning another and more formidable expedition 
against Ferguson, and Marion was watching an opportunity 
to return. Disaster had not conquered the spirit of these 
heroic men. They had seen the Continental army, from 
whicli they had hoped so much and the way for which they 
had so well prepared, defeated and routed, totally disappear 
from the field. But they had leained by experience and 
necessity their own abilit}^ to cope with the British troops, 
regular, Piovincial, or Tory, and casting aside all reliance 
upon aid from Congress they prepared to open the second 
campaign of the memorable year of 1780. 

Reacliing tiie mountains in safety, the victors of Mus- 
grove's Mills had formed a junction with McDowell's party 
from Smith's Ford. So far from giving up the struggle 
upon Gates's defeat, Shelby at once proposed that a 
bod}' of volunteers be raised on both sides of the moun- 
tains in sullicient numbers to cope with Ferguson. All 
heartily united in the propriety and feasibility of the un- 
dertaking. It was agreed that the Musgrove piisoners 
should be sent to a place of security, that the over-moun- 
tain men should return liome to recruit and strensfthen their 
numbers ; while Colonel McDowell should send an express 

731 



732 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to Colonels Cleveland and Herndon and Major Winston of 
North Carolina, urging them to raise volunteers and join 
the enterprise. McDowell was to remain to preserve the 
beef and stock of the Whigs in the Upper Catawba 
valleys and caves, to obtain information and keep the over- 
mountain men constantly apprised of the enemy's move- 
ments. The Musgrove prisoners were left in charge of 
Colonel Clarke. Clarke, after continuing some distance 
with the prisoners, resolved to return to Georgia by the 
mountain trails upon an expedition of his own. He there- 
fore turned over the prisoners to Colonel Williams, who, 
with Captain Hammond, conducted them safely to Hills- 
boro, where, meeting Governor Rutledge and claiming the 
glory of the whole achievement, he obtained promotion 
which was afterwards the cause of much trouble.^ 

Cornwallis's order issued after the battle of Camden had 
been received by Lieutenant Colonel Browne, now com- 
mandinof in Aug'usta, where he had himself been tarred 
and feathered and cruelly treated by the Revolutionists in 
Georgia in the commencement of the trouble, which was 
a cover to him for the most sanguinary revenge.^ The 
morning after its reception five victims were taken from 
the jail by his order and gibbeted without trial. Encour- 
aged by the hope that this order of the British commander- 
in-chief and Browne's cruel and vindictive enforcement 

1 King'^s Mountain and its Heroes, 118, 119. 

2 McCall's IJist. of Ga., vol. II, 319. This is the Whig or American 
account, but it is just to say that Colonel Krowne intliguantly denied 
the accusation of cruelty, and in a very able letter to Dr. Ramsay, 
found among the latter's papers upon his death (to which we will have 
occasion again to refer), he makes a very strong defence of himself 
against them generally. He does not, however, in this letter refer to this 
particular incident. It should also be observed that the men executed 
at this time were charged with having borne arms in the BrilLsh service 
and afterwards joined the Americans, and that in similar cases the 
Americans applied the same penalty. 



IN THE TtEVOLUTrON 733 

of it would rouse the resentment and bring into Mt/e field 
all who felt an interest in the American cause, Colonel 
Clarke determined upon making an attempt to recover a 
part of his own State. This was the cause of his sudden 
abandomnent of the prisoners to Williams. In this effort 
he was joined by Lieutenant Colonel James ISIcCall of 
South Carolina,^ who proceeded to the western part of the 
Ninety-Six District, hoping to raise a joint force on the 
borders of the two States of at least one thousand men. 
With this force it was supposed that Augusta would sub- 
mit with little or no resistance, as Cornwallis had reduced 
its garrison when preparing to meet Gates, and that there- 
upon the post at Ninety-Six would probably be evacuated. 
It was a bold and masterly scheme, and could the thousand 
men have been found it would probably have succeeded and 
produced most decisive results. But unfortunately the 
Ninety-Six region was as strongly Tory as that of Fair 
Forest, and the few Whigs who had surrendered with 
Williamson and Pickens had not yet felt the effects of 
Cornwallis's proclamation, and attributed the sacrifice of 
life of which they heard to other causes. McCall made 
his first application to Colonel Pickens and the most influ- 
ential officers of his former regiment, but with little suc- 
cess. The stipulations in their paroles had not yet been 
violated, and they considered themselves bound by con- 
sfieiK^e and honor not to break their engagements until an 
infringement was made upon its conditions. Instead of 
five hundred men which had been confidently calculated 
upon from Ninety-Six, McCalTs persuasion could only 
induce eighty to accom[)any him. With this number he 
marched to Soap Cieek in Geoigia, forty miles northwest 
of Augusta, which had been fixed on as the place of ren- 

> James McCall had been, it will be recollected, a Captain under Maj6r 
Williamsou at Ninety-Six in 1770, and had been captured by the Indians. 



734 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

dezvous. Colonel Clarke had been more successful, his 
numbers amounting to three hundred and fifty. Though 
this little band fell far short of his expectations, and were 
really inadequate to the purposes Clarke had in view, it 
was then too late to relinquish a project which he so anx- 
iously wished to accomplish; he was therefore compelled to 
depend upon courage and stratagem as substitutes for 
numbers in his ranks. 

Colonel Clarke's arrangements had been made so sud- 
denly and so unexpectedly to the enemy that he reached 
the vicinity of Augusta unobserved, and found them 
unprepared for an attack. On the morning of the 14th 
of September he halted near the town and formed his 
command into three divisions: the right commanded by 
Lieutenant Colonel McCall, the left by Major Samuel 
Taylor, and the centre by himself in person. The centre 
approached the town by the middle road, and the right and 
left by the lower and upper roads at its eastern and west- 
ern extremities. Near Hawk's Creek in the west Major 
Taylor fell in with an Indian camp, and with a desultory 
fire the Indians retreated toward their allies. Taylor 
pressed on to get possession of McKay's trading-house, 
called the White House, a mile and a half west of the town. 
At this house the Indians joined a company of the King's 
Rangers, commanded by Captain Johnston. The attack 
upon this, the camp, gave the fii*st intimation to Browne 
of the Americans' approach. He reenforced Johnston, and 
advanced to the scene of action in person with the main 
body of his garrison. The centre and right division com- 
pletely surprised the garrison and forts, and took possession 
without resistance ; seventy prisoners and all the Indians 
present were put uiider charge of a guard, and Clarke 
marched with the residue to the assistance of Taylor. 
Browne had joined Johnston and the Indians, and upon 



IN TIIK RKVOLL'TION 735 

Clarke's approach took shelter in the White House and 
defended it. Several attempts were made to dislodge the 
British, but failed. A desultory lire continued from eleven 
o'clock until night, but it was found that the enemy could 
not be disl()dg(Hl without aitillery. The house was situ- 
ated about eighty yards from the river. The Indians who 
had not room to fight from the house took shelter under 
tlie banks, which furnished them with a good breastwork, 
while they were secured by the thick wood between the 
bank and the water's edge. At the close of the day the 
firing ceased, and strong guards were posted to keep 
tlie enemy in check. 

Under cover of the night, Browne added strength to his 
position by throwing up some works round the house. 
The crevices between the weather boards and ceilingf 
were filled up with earth to make the walls proof against 
musketry; loopholes were cut out at convenient dis- 
tances ; the windows were closed up with boards taken 
from the floors, and defence rendered as formidable as 
the materials at command would admit. The next morn- 
ing two pieces of artillery were brought by the Americans 
from the British woiks and placed in a position to bear 
upon the house ; but the carriages not being designed 
for field service, and the handling unskilful, they proved 
of little service. Captain Martin of South Carolina, the 
only artillerist attached to Clarke's command, was unfor- 
tunately killed soon after the pieces were brought to bear 
on the enemy. A fire was continued through the day with 
small arms, but without much prospect of compelling the 
enemy to abandon tlie house or surrender. 

On the morning of the 15th, before daylight, the 
Americans drove the Indians from the river bank, and 
cut off their supply of water, by which the wounded, 
particularly, suffered greatly. The dead men and hoi-ses 



730 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

which lay about the house became very offensive. Early 
in the engagement Browne was shot through both thighs, 
and suffered among the wounded, who were often heard 
calling for water and medical aid. On the night of the 
loth the garrison was reenforced by fifty Cherokee Indians, 
who crossed the river in canoes. The sufferings of the 
wounded, the want of water, and the nauseous smell of 
animal putrefaction, it was supposed, would discourage the 
besieged and induce them to surrender, but Browne was 
not a man to yield. On the 17th Clarke sent a summons 
to him, but the proposition was rejected and Clarke 
warned of the destruction his measures would bring upon 
the people of Georgia. In the afternoon the summons 
to surrender was repeated with the addition that Browne 
would be held responsible for the consequences of his 
temerity ; Browne replied that it was his determination 
to defend himself to the last extremity. 

Immediately after Colonel Clarke's appearance, Browne 
had dispatched messengers by different routes to Ninety- 
Six, informing Colonel Cruger of his situation and the 
necessity of immediate relief b}^ reenforcements. Sir 
Patrick Houston, one of the messengers, reached Ninet}'- 
Six early on the next day, and was the first to communi- 
cate Browne's critical situation to Cruger, who lost no time 
in making preparations and advancing to his relief. On 
the niffht of the 17th Clarke's scouts informed him of 
Cruger's approach by forced marches, with five hundred 
British regulars and Royal militia to the relief of the 
besieged. In the meanwhile many of his men, availing 
themselves of being in the neighborhood, had gone to 
visit families or friends from whom they had long been 
absent; others, who had been actuated by the hope of 
obtaining plunder ratlier than by motives of zeal in the 
cause of their country, liad decamped, laden with goods 



IX THK KEVOLl'TION 737 

which Colonel Browne had received not long before for 
presents to tlie Indians. 

About eiglit o'clock on the morning of the 18th, the 
British troops appeared on the opposite side of the river. 
The weakness occasioned by the loss of men in the siege, 
and by tlie desertion of those who preferred plunder to the 
lionor and interest of their country, compelled the Ameri- 
cans to raise the siege and retreat, having sustained a loss 
of about sixty killed and wounded ; among the former 
were Captains Charles Jourdine and William Martin. 
William Luckie, a brave and much respected young 
man from Carolina, was killed earl}^ in the contest in a 
desperate effort to gain the possession of the White 
House. Sueli of the Whigs as were badly wounded and 
not in a condition to be removed were left in the town. 
Ca[)tain Ashby, an oflicer noted for his bravery and liuman- 
ity, with twentj^-eight others, including tlie wounded, fell 
into the bands of the enemy. Ashby and twelve others of 
the wounded prisoners were hanged on the staircase of the 
White House, where Browne was lying wounded, so, it was 
said, that he might have the satisfaction of seeing the vic- 
tims of his vengeance expire. Their bodies were delivered 
up to the Indians, who scalped and otherwise mangled 
them, and threw them into the river. Henry Duke, John 

Bnrgamy, Scott Reeden, Jordan Ricketson, Darling, 

and two youths, brothers, of seventeen and fifteen years of 
age, named (ilass, were all lianged. The elder of these 
youths was sliot through the thigli, and could not be car- 
ried away when the retreat was ordered, and the younger 
brother could not be prevailed upon to leave liim ; his ten- 
derness and affection cost him his life. A horse was the 
scaffold on which they were mounted, and from which 
tliey were gibbeted. But all this was merciful when com- 
part'(l with the fate which awaited the other prisoners; 
VOL. HI. — 3 a 



738 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

these were delivered to the Indians, to glut their ven- 
geance for the loss they had sustained. The Indians 
formed a circle and placed the prisoners in the centre. 
Their eagerness to shed blood spared the victims from 
tedious torture. Some were scalped before they sank 
under the Indian weapons of war ; others were thrown 
into the fires and roasted to death. The record of these 
transactions, from the pens of British officers who were 
present and exultingl}'- communicated it to their friends 
in Savannah, Charlestown, and London, where it stands 
upon record in the papers of the day, says McCall, from 
whom this account is taken, was before him when 
he wrote.^ Cornvvallis himself wrote to Ferguson on 
the 23d that he " had the satisfaction to hear from Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Cruger, that he had arrived in time to 
save Browne, and retaken the guns, and totally routed the 
enemy, who had retired with great precipitation ; tliat the 
Indians had pursued and scalped man// ofthein.'"'^ 

The Britisli loss was announced, it is said, in Colonel 
Browne's official letter publislied in Charlestown, but can- 
not now be stated with correctness.^ The morning on 
which Colonel Clarke retreated, he paroled the British 
officers and soldiers who had been captured, and received 
certificates from the officers of the number of men who 
were to be considered and accounted for as prisoners 
of war; to wit, 2 officers and 41 men of the King's 
Rangers, 1 officer and 11 men of DeLancey's corps, and 
a surgeon. These officers and private soldiers, regardless 
of their obligations as prisoners on parole, resumed their 
arms immediately after Clarke retreated. If Browne had 

1 McCall's Hist, nf Gn., vol. II, 322-327. 

2 Tarleton's Cnmpaiffns, 102. 

8 McCaU's Hist, nf Ga., vol. II, .">28. The official letter mentioned can- 
not now be found in the tiles of Charlestown papers of that date. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 739 

not been surprised, says McCall, the numbers in his ranks 
woukl have authorized the defeat of his adversaries. These 
numbers he puts at 550 before Cruger's arrival. Tarleton, 
however, gives Browne's original strength at but 350; to 
wit, 150 Trovincials and 200 Cherokee Indians. To these 
were added 50 more Indians, who joined him on the 15th. ^ 
Clarke commenced the siege with but 430, and was after- 
ward faf outnumbered, first by the desertion of some of his 
own men, and then by Cruger's reenforcement of Browne. 

After the siege was raised, the country was searched by 
the British, and those whose relations were engaged in the 
American cause weie arrested and crowded into prisons ; 
others who were suspected of having intercourse with any 
of Clarke's command were hanged without the forms of 
trial. Old men with hoary heads bending toward the 
grave were crowded into filthy places of confinement for 
no other crimes than those of receiving visits from their 
sons and grandsons after a long absence. These aged men 
were ke[)t in close confinement as hostages for the neutrality 
of the country ; but by the inclemency of the season, the 
smallpox, and inhuman treatment, very few of them sur- 
vived to greet their friends when liberty was secured. 
One of them, the father of Captains Samuel and John 
Alexander, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, was 
ignonnniously chained to a cart and dragged forty-two 
miles in two days, and when he attempted to rest his 
feeble frame by leaning upon the cart, the driver was 
ordered to scourge him with his whip.^ 

Clarke's men liad dis[)ersed immediately after the siege, 
to look after and take leave of their families, and a time 
and place were appointed for their rendezvous. About the 
last of September they met at the place appointed. Clarke 

1 Tarleton's Cnrnpaif/ns, 162. 103. 

» McCall's Hist, of Ua., vol. II, 329, 330. 



740 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

found himself at the head of three hundred men, but they 
were encumbered by a train of four hundred women 
and children. In the devastation of the country for two 
years, vestiges of cultivation were scarcely anywhere now 
to be seen, and to leave their families behind under such 
circumstances was to abandon them to starvation and tlie 
barbarity of the enemy, Avhich has just been described. 
With this helpless multitude Colonel Clarke coiUmenced 
a march of near two hundred miles through a mountainous 
wilderness, to avoid being cut off by the enemy, who were 
now on the march to intercept them. On the eleventh day 
they reached the Watauga and Nolachucky rivers, on the 
confines of the States of North Carolina and Tennessee, in 
a starved and otherwise deplorable condition. They were 
received, however, with the greatest hospitality and kind- 
ness by the inhabitants of this region. Supplies of cloth- 
ing, substance, and shelter were in no instance withheld 
from them, nor were these gratuities momentary; they 
ceased only with the demands upon their bounty which 
the occasion called for.i Colonel Cruger liad started in 
pursuit of Clarke, and had called upon Ferguson at Fair 
Forest to cooperate with him ; but as Cruger soon found 
that Clarke's course would carry him too far from Ninety- 
Six, he gave up the pursuit. Fortunately for the Whigs, as 
it afterwards happened, Ferguson adhered to the plan and 
moved in the direction of Gill)ert Town,^ wliere he was in- 
formed McDowell, Clarke, and Shelby would rally their men. 
While these partisans were gathering their clans, their 
compatriots immediately in the front of Cornwallis's army 
were not idle. Davie was again the first to take the field. 
He had now been appointed by Governor Nash of North 
Carolina Colonel Commandant of cavalry, with instructions 

1 McOall's Hist. »f Oa., vol. II, 332, 334. 

2 Tarletoii's CamjKtiyns, 104. 



IN THE KKVOLUTION 741 

to raise a regiment. lie had succeeded in raising only a 
part, but with liis eighty dragoons and two small com- 
panies of riflemen commanded by Major George Davidson 
he crossed into South (^arolina and took post at Providence, 
about thirty-five miles from Charlotte. Here, amid the 
scenes of his boyhood and among his old friends, and joined 
by stanch volunteers from the Low Country, he undertook 
again the business of watching the movements of the enemy, 
and interrupting their foraging parties and convoys.^ 

After the defeat of Gates, Lord Cornwallis withdrew 
his forces to Camden and rested and refreshed his men 
while waiting for reenforcements from Charlestown. On 
the 8th of September,^ his reenforcements, the Seventh 
Ivegiment and some recruits for tiie Provincial regiments, 
having arrived, with the principal column of his army, — 
the Seventh, Twenty-third, Thirtj-'third, and Seventy -first 
regiments of infantry, the volunteers of Ireland, ILimil- 
ton's corps, Bryan's refugees, four pieces of cannon, about 
fifty wagons, and a detachment of cavahy, — he marched 
by Hanging Rock toward the Waxhaw settlement ; whilst 
Tarleton crossed the Catawba and moved up the west side 
of the river with the body of the British dragoons,^ the 
light and legionary infantry and a three-pounder. Lord 
Cornwallis went into camp in the Waxhaws about forty 
miles from Charlotte. 

Davie with his small force, now the only regularly armed 

1 Wheeler's Hint, of \n. Ca., 10.') ; Lee's Memoirs of the War of 1776, 
193 ; Uaiiusay's Jirvohtlion of So. Ca., vol. II, 180. 

2 Wheeler'.s Hint, of Xo. Ca., supra. 

* Taileton state.s {Campaiijns, 158) that he "crossed the Wateree 
and moved up the east side of the river." The British army was already 
on the east side, so that if he cro8.sed he must have moved up the icest, 
not the east, side. McKenzie in Ids Strictures points this out (Strictures, 
45), and Hanger in his reply to McKenzie .stales that the word "east" 
was a misprint. 



742 HISTORY OV SOUTH CAROLINA 

bodj' of resistance in the whole Southern province, did not 
hesitate to confront and annoy the advance of the enemy. 
Tlie prosperous settlement in the Waxhaws had in the last 
three months been so exhausted by the armies traversing 
it that the Britisli general was straitened for provisions 
and obliged to send his light parties in every direction 
for the safety of which he had no apprehensions. Colonel 
Davie, knowing his lordship's necessities, and the measure 
he must take to supply them, watched his opportunity 
to avail himself of the exposure of any of his lordship's 
parties. An occasion soon presented itself. Ascertain- 
ing that whilst the main body of the enemy was encamped 
on the north bank of the Catawba, which here changes its 
course from north and south to nearly east and west, some 
of the light troops and the Loyalists occupied the soutli- 
ern bank of the i-iver at some distance from the main 
force of the British, he determined to beat up their quar- 
ters in the night. With this purpose he set out on the 
evening of the 20th of September, and taking an extensive 
circuit turned to the left of Cornwallis and gained unper- 
ceived the camp of the Loyalists. They had changed their 
ground nearer to the light troops, and now were stationed 
at the plantation of Captain Wahub, who was a volunteer 
with him. Davie nevertheless persevered in his enter- 
prise. Being among his friends, he was sure to receive 
accurate intelligence ; and he had with him the best of 
guides, as many of his corps were inhabitants of this 
settlement, their property, wives, and children being now in 
possession of the enemy. Davie came in sight of Wahub's 
place early the next morning, where he discovered a 
part of the Loyalists and British Legion mounted and 
arrayed near the house, which in this quarter was in some 
degree concealed by a corn-field cultivated quite to the 
yard. Detaching Major Davidson through the corn-field 



IN THE REVOLUTION 743 

with the greater part of the riflemen, with orders to seize 
the house, lie himself oainecl the lane leading to it. Tlie 
enemy were completely surprised, and being keenly 
pushed betook themselves to flight. Twenty killed and 40 
wounded were left on the ground, and as little or no 
resistance was made, only one of Davie's corps was 
wounded. Having collected 96 horses with their equip- 
ments, and 120 stands of arms, Davie retired with expedi- 
tion, the British drums beating to arms in the contiguous 
quarters. Captain Wahub, the owner of the farm, spent 
the few moments in painful if precious converse with his 
wife and children, who ran out, as soon as the fire ceased, 
to embrace him. These brief moments were succeeded by 
others most bitter. For the British troops reaching the 
house, the commanding oflicer ordered it burnt. A toich 
was applied, and Wahub saw the only shelter of his helpless 
and unprotected family wrapped in flames, without the 
power of affording any relief to his forlorn wife and chil- 
dren. Davie made good his retreat and returned to his 
camp at Providence, having marched sixty miles in twenty- 
four hours.^ This affair, it will be observed, was a repetition 
in almost all of the details of the same officer's brilliant 
action at Ilancjinof Rock on the 1st of Augfust. In that 
affair Davie had surprised the British and cut to pieces a 
detachment in the face of tlie wliole British camp, carry- 
ing off sixty horses and one hundred muskets. In this he 
did the same, only causing the enemy greater loss in men, 
horses, and arms. 

On the 22d of September, Earl C'ornwallis directed the 

' It is again remarkable that tiiis affair, like that of Musgrove's Mills, 
is imt ineiitioiieil by any Hritish historian, n^r by Hamsay, nor by .John- 
son. This account is taken from Mnnnirs of (he W'tir i>f 1776 (Lee), 
iyr>; Hist, of No. Ca. (Wheeler), 195; Howe's JJist. Preifbi/terian Church, 
537, 538. 



744 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

British Legion and light infantry to recross the Catawba 
at Blair's Ford in order to form the advance guard for the 
immediate possession of Charlotte Town, where Cornwallis 
proposed to remain until he had consumed the provisions 
in that settlement, and then to proceed to the friendly 
settlement at Cross Creek. The movement was, however, 
delayed a day or two in consequence of the illness of 
Colonel Tarleton, who was prostrated with fever. The day 
that Davie had returned to his camp with the spoils he 
had secured at Wahub's plantation, Generals Sumner and 
Davidson had arrived there with their brigades of North 
Carolina militia. But on the advance of the British they 
retreated by the nearest route to Salisbury, leaving Colonel 
Davie with about 150 men and some volunteers under 
Major Joseph Graham to hover about the advancing 
foe, to annoy his foraging parties, and to keep in touch 
with his light troops. Obeying these orders on the 
night of the 25th, Colonel Davie entered Charlotte, the 
British army having advanced to within a few miles of 
the town. 

The town of Charlotte is situated on rising ground, and 
consisted then of about forty houses. It had two main 
streets crossing at right angles, and a court-house in the 
centre, the lower part of which was used as a market 
house. The left of the town was an open common, the 
right was covered with underwood. Davie with his small 
party determined not to yield the town without a strug- 
gle. He dismounted one of his companies and stationed it 
under the court-house ; the other two companies were 
posted behind the garden fences on either side of the 
street by which the British approached. The British 
Legion now under Major Hanger led the advance, the 
main body following. The Legion was ordered to dis- 
lodge Davie's party. As they approached within sixty 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 745 

yards of the court-house, Davie opened fire upon them, 
from which they recoiled. Mortified at the hesitancy of 
the famous corps. Lord Cornwallis rode up in person and 
addressed them, " Legion ! remember you have everything 
to lose, but nothing to gain," alluding as it is supposed 
to the former reputation of the coips. Upon this Major 
Hanger ordered a charge, but, though thus taunted, no 
inducement of their officers could upon this occasion 
induce the Legion cavalry to approach Davie's men. 
They retreated without carrying out Lord Cornwallis's 
orders. Much dissatisfied, his lordship ordered the light 
infantry and the infantry of the Legion to advance and dis- 
lodge the enemy, wiiich they immediately effected.^ " The 
whole of the British army," says Steadman, "was actually 
kept at bay for some minutes by a few mounted Ameri- 
cans, not exceeding twenty in number.^ Colonel Davie then 
ordered a retreat, and the British pursued. The pursuit 
lasted for several miles, in which Colonel Locke "^ of Rowan 
was killed and Major Graham severel}'^ wounded. About 
thirty others were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners."* 
The King's troops did not come out of this skirmish unhurt. 
Major Hanger and Captains Campbell and McDonald were 
wounded, and twelve non-commissioned officers and men 
were killed and wounded.^ 

The British, says Tarleton, found Charlotte a place of 
blended conveniences and great disadvantages. The mills 
in its neighborhood were supposed of sufficient conse- 

• This is the account piven by McKenzie (Strictures, 47). In liis reply 
Tarleton, p. 55, admits that a part, for "reasons best known to them- 
selves," did not advance. Steadman credits Webster's brigade with the 
honor of driving Davie's men from behind the court-house. Ilist. of the 
Am. W<ir, vol. II (Steadman), 210. 

2 Ilist. Am. ]Vor (Steadman), ibid. 

' Nephew of Colonel Francis Locke, victor of Ramsour's Mills. 

* Wheeler'.s Hint, vf .Vn. C(/., 1!)5. *» Tarlcton's Campaigns, 151). 



746 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

quence to render it for the present :ui eligible position, 
and in future a necessar}- [)0st when the army advanced. 
But its convenience as an intei-mediate situation between 
Camden and Salisbuiy, and the quantity of its mills, did 
not counterbalance its defects. It was in the very heart 
of the most inveterate enemies of the King. The planta- 
tions in the neighborhood were small and uncultivated, 
the roads narrow and crossed in every direction, and the 
whole face of the country covered with close and thick 
woods. In addition to these disadvantages no estimation 
could be made of the sentiments of half the inhabitants of 
North Carolina whilst the Royal army remained at Char- 
lotte Town. It was evident, as the King's officers had 
frequently reported, that the colonies of Mecklenburg and 
Rowan were more hostile to England than any others in 
America. The vigilance and animosity of these surround- 
ing districts checked the exertions of the well affected, 
and totally destroyed all communication between the 
King's troops and the Loyalists in the other parts of the 
province. No British commander could obtain any in- 
formation in that position which would facilitate his 
designs or guide his future conduct. Ever}- report con- 
cerning the measures of the Governor and Assembly 
would be ambiguous ; accounts of the preparation of the 
militia could onl}' be vague and uncertain; and all intelli- 
gence of the real force and movement of the Continentals 
must be totally unattainable. The foraging parties were 
every day harassed by the inhabitants, who did not remain 
at home to receive payment for the produce of their plan- 
tations, but generally fired from covert places to anno}' 
the British detaclnnents. Ineffectual attempts were made 
upon convoys coming from Camden and the intermediate 
post at Blair's Mill; but individuals with expresses were 
frequently cut off. An attack was directed against a 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 747 

picket at Polk's Mill, two miles from the town/ and 
a foiaging party in large force at a mill seven miles from 
Clmrlotte was attacked, a British captain was killed with 
others and several wounded, the Americans making good 
their retreat without loss. The detachment returned to 
town disappointed of the forage, and reported to Lord 
Cornwallis that "every bush on the road concealed a 
Rebel." 2 

Turning now again to the Pee Dee section, Marion, 
it will be recollected, had on his retreat to North 
Carolina sent back Major James to obtain intelligence 
of what should occur, lie returned in a few days with 
the news that the country through which Wemyss had 
marched along Black River, Lynch's Creek, and Pee Dee 
for seventy miles in lengtli, and at places for fifteen miles 
in width, exhibited one continued scene of desolation and 
suffering. On most of the plantations every liouse was 
burnt to the ground, the negroes carried off, the inhab- 
itants plundered, the stock, especially sheep, wantonly 
killed, and all accessible provisions destro3-ed.^ Fortu- 
nately the corn was not generally housed, and much of 
that was saved. At the command of this oflicer the 
church of Indian Town was burnt, because he regarded all 
Piesbyterian churches as "sedition shops." The Holy 
Bible, too, with Rous's Psalms, indicated the presence 
of the hated rebellious sect, and was uniformly consigned 
to the flames. The house of Major James was burned, 
and his property swept away and destroyed. Especial 
attention was paid to the destruction of sheep and loom- 
houses, because these constituted a principal element in 
support of the inhabitants both in food and clothing. 

1 Tarlctoirs Campaujus, 1(>0. 2 Whei^ler's Hist, of Xo. Ca., 203. 

' JameK's Life of Marion, o7 ; TTii So.-Ca. and Ameriran General 
Gazette, Sept. 20, 1780; Tlie lioijal S.-C. Gazette, Sept. 21, 1780. 



748 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The looni-liouses were invaiiably reduced to ashes, and 
when the sheep could not be used for food, they were 
bayoneted or shot, and left to putrefy on the ground. 
Adam Cusack, a noted Whig, who had rendered himself 
particularly obnoxious to the enemies of his country, but 
who had neither given parole as a prisoner nor taken 
protection, was charged with refusing to transport some 
British officers over a ferry ; and also with having shot at 
them across the river, as one account states it, or as an- 
other, with having shot at a black servant of a Tory officer, 
John Brockington. He was taken prisoner soon after, 
and for this offence tried by a court-martial, and on the 
evidence of a negro condemned. His wife and children 
prostrated themselves before Wemyss, as he was on horse- 
back, pleading for a pardon, but instead he would have 
ridden over them had not one of his ofBcers prevented the 
foul deed. From this scene he proceeded to superintend 
the execution of the unfortunate man. Cusack was car- 
ried to a spot on the road leading from Cheraw to Darling- 
ton, a spot in recent times occupied by the first depot of 
the Cheraw and Darlington Railroad, below the village 
of Society Hill, and Avas there hanged.^ 

The report of these cruelties and atrocities called 
Marion from his retreat and roused the people, whom 
James reported were now ready to join him. Marion in 
a few days returned to South Carolina by a forced march. 
On the second day of this march, while passing through 
the Tory settlement on tlie Little Pee Dee, he traversed 
sixty miles, and ai-riving near Lj-nch's Creek was joined by 
John James and Henry Mouzon with a considerable force. 
Jlere, about the 14th of September, he was informed that 
a party of Tories, more numerous than his own, lay at 

J James's Life of Marion, 58 ; Gregg's Hist, of the Old Cheraws, 302, 
303; Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 188, 189. 



IN THE UEVOLUTION 749 

Black Miiiopo fifteen miles below, under the command of 
Captain John Coining liall. He might soon have been 
reenforced, but finding his men unanimous for battle, he 
gratified their wishes. The Tories were posted at Shep- 
hei'd's Ferry on tlie south side of Black Mingo, a deep 
navigable creek, and had command of the passage. To 
approach them Marion was obliged to cross the creek one 
mile above, over a boggy causeway and bridge of planks- 
It was nearly midnight when he arrived at the bridge, and 
while the party was crossing an alarm gun was heard in 
the Tory camp. Marion immediately ordeied his men to 
follow him in full gallop, and in a few minutes they reached 
the main road, which led to the ferry about three hundred 
yards in front of it. Here they all dismounted except a small 
body, which kept to their horses. Marion ordered a corps 
of supernumerary officers, under the command of Captain 
Thomas Waties, to proceed down the road and attack a 
house where it was supposed the Tories were posted, and 
at the same time he detached two companies to the right, 
under Colonel Hugh Horry, and the cavalry to the left to 
support the attack. Before the corps of officers could 
reach the house, the party on the right had encountered 
the enemy, who had left the house and were drawn up in 
an old field o[)i)osite to it. This circumstance gave to the 
latter all the advantage of a surprise, and their first fire was 
so severe and unexpected as to oblige Horry's men to fall 
i)ack in some confusion ; these were, however, soon rallied 
by the great exertions of Captain John James. The Tories 
at the same time attacked on their flank by the corps of 
officers, and finding themselves between two fires, gave way 
after a few rounds and took refuge in Black Mingo swamp, 
which was in their rear. 

Captain George Logan of Charlestown had been sick in 
North Carolina, but hearing that Marion had marched for 



750 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

South Carolina, rose from his bed of sickness, mounted his 
horse, and rode eighty miles the day befoj-e the action to 
join liim, and was killed that night at Black Mingo. Two 
other gallant officers, Captain Henry Mouzon and his lieu- 
tenant Joseph Scott, were by their wounds rendered unfit 
for further service. The strength of neither party in this 
affair is anywhere stated. Marion retired into North Caro- 
lina with sixty followers ; ten of these were sent back under 
Major James to reconnoitre, but it is to be presumed with 
him rejoined Marion. To this small body were added at 
Lynch's Creek "a considerable force" under Captain John 
James and Henry Mouzon. With Marion there was also 
" a corps of supernumerar}- officers." From these few data 
it will probably be not far from the truth to estimate 
Marion's force on this occasion at one hundred and fifty 
men. The Tories were "more numerous " than the Whigs.^ 
The action, although of short duration, was closely and 
sharply contested, the losses being about equal. 

Illustrating the unsettled condition of public opinion at 
this time, and the wavering between the parties of those 
who had no interest in the original cause of the war, 
James relates that some of those whom Marion had thus 
attacked, defeated, and routed, had been lately his com- 
panions in arms. With the tact which was as distin- 
guishing a feature in his character as his military genius, 
and with his full appreciation of the difficulties of the 
situation in which these men of the lower orders were 
placed between the contending forces, continually forced 
to take one side or the other in a cause they did not even 
understand, Marion's superior wisdom to that of Corn- 
wallis was exemplified. Cornwallis ordered all men who 
had served under him and afterwards formed on the 
American side to be hanged without trial. Marion boldly 
1 James's Life of Marion, 58. 



IN THK RKV'OLUTION 751 

took such men back into ranks, trusted them, and made 
them ever after his devoted followers. 

As many of liis [)arty had left their families in much 
distress, Marion gave them leave to go to their lu)mes and 
appointed them to meet him again at Snow Island on the 
Pee Dee, while he appears to have refreshed himself among 
tlie phinters on the Waccamaw, while awaiting their re- 
turn.* Becoming impatient of delay, restive under enforced 
inaction, and doubting whether his men would come back 
to him, he proposed to a few officers who were with him to 
abandon the hope and join the forces assembling in North 
Carolina. But Colonel Hugh Horry, who partook more 
of his confidence than any other, prevailed upon him to 
remain — a service on the part of Colonel Horry as meri- 
toi'ious as any other by which he so gre.atly distinguished 
himself in the cause of his country. Marion's men at 
length came in, and he marched into Williamsburg, gaining 
reenforcements daily. In a short time his party was four 
hundred strong ; with these he proceeded at once to 
chastise the Tories, who had assisted Wemyss in desolat- 
ing the country. 

On his march he obtained information that Colonel 
Tynes was collecting a large body of Tories in the fork 
of Bhu'k River, distant about thirty miles. Colonel Tynes 
had summoned out the people of Salem and the fork of 
Black River, to do duty as his Majesty's subjects. Tynes 
lay encamped at Tarcote in the fork. Marion at once 
marclied against him ; crossing the north branch of Black 
River at Nelson's plantation, he came up with Tynes, sur- 
prised and completely defeated him without the loss of a 
man. The rout was universal, but as Tarcote swamp was 
near it was attended with more dismay than slaughter. 
The Tories lost twenty -six killed, and among the rest the 
1 Weems's Life nf Marion, 142. 



752 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

noted Captain Amos Gaskens. The most of Tynes's men 
soon after joined Marion and fought bravely with liim.^ 

In all these marches Marion and liis men lay in the 
swamps in the open air, with little covering and with little 
other food than sweet potatoes and meat, mostly without 
salt; and though it was in the unhealthy season of autumn, 
yet sickness seldom occurred. Marion himself fared 
worse than liis men, for his baggage having caught fire 
by accident, he had literally but half a blanket to cover 
him from the dews of the night, and but half a hat to 
shelter him from the rays of the sun. Soon after the de- 
feat of Tynes, Marion took a position on Snow Island. 
This island is situated at the conflux of the Pee Dee and 
Lynch's Creek, is of a triangular form, and is bounded by 
the Pee Dee on the northeast, by Lynch's Cieek on the 
north, and by Clark's Creek, a branch of the latter, on the 
west and south. Hereby having command of the rivers, 
he could be abundantly supplied with provisions, and his 
post was inaccessible except by water. 

IMajor John Postell was stationed to guard the lower 
part of the Pee Dee River. While there. Captain James 
de Peyster of the Royal army with twenty-nine grena- 
diers having taken post in the house of Major Postell's 
father, the Major posted his small command of twenty- 
eight men in such position as commanded its doors, and 
demanded their surrender. This being refused, he set 
fire to an outhouse and proceeded to burn that in which 
they were posted, and nothing but the immediate sur- 
render of the whole party restrained him from sacrificing 
his father's valuable property to gain an advantage for 
his country .2 

1 James's Life of Marion, 00 ; Ramsay's Hist, of So. Ca., vol. II, 
408. 

2 Ramsay's Hist, of So. Ca. , 409. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 753 

More than a niontli had now passed since the over- 
throw and complete rout of (iates's Continental army, and 
3'et Cornwallis was barely across the South Carolina line, 
nor had he been able to advance to or cross it without 
daily insult to tlie Royal army of fearless attacks by par- 
tisan bands. Davie had not hesitated to ride into his 
lines and carry off in the face of his Majesty's arni}^ near 
a hundred horses and a large stand of arms, and leaving 
sixty British troops dead or wounded on the field, some of 
these being of the vaunted Legion itself. Nor had this 
same officer feared with his small band to defy the whole 
Royal army upon its entrance into Charlotte, and had 
exacted tribute in twenty killed and wounded, including 
among the latter the leader of the Legion, before he would 
yield the place to them. And in Charlotte his lordship 
found himself unable to send out a foraging party with- 
out ample escort. His difficulties were not diminishing as 
he had advanced. Moreover, it had happened that on the 
same day, the 14th of August, the British post on the 
Savannah and the Tory camp on the Pee Dee had been 
assailed. Augusta had only been saved by stripping 
Ninety-Six of its garrison. The Tory camp at Black 
Mingo had been destroyed, and its force dispersed. 
Clarke, it is true, had been compelled to abandon Georgia, 
but he carried with him a resolute band to join Shelby — 
a band of men burning with wrongs and fearfully bent on 
revenge. Marion had established himself at Snow Lsland, 
and his lordship's communications with Charlestown were 
now to be subjected to continual interruption. Before 
Cornwallis there was a long way to Virginia, wliere only 
he could strike any eiTectual blow, and the road thither 
was beset witli difficulties and dangers. Behind him was 
a desolate country — a country wliicli had been pros- 
perous and loyal until the King's army had come, but 
VOL. in. — 3 c 



754 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

which now in its desobition produced only rebellion. 
There was no regularly organized bod}' of Whigs in 
South Caiolina, yet his lordship realized that the ex- 
tent of his conquest was measured by the tread of his 
sentinels. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

1780 

Ferguson, it will be recollected, had recrossed the 
Broad as soon as he heard of the expedition against Innes at 
Musgrove's Mills, and had endeavored to intercept Shelby, 
Clarke, and Williams on their retreat. Failing in this, he 
had encamped for some time at Fair P"'orest in the Bran- 
don settlement, from which he had sent out detachments 
through the country in search of the prominent Whig 
leaders, overawing all opposition, plundering wherever 
they found anything tliey needed or coveted, and admin- 
istering the oath of allegiance to all who would take it, 
with liberal terms of pardon to those who had been active 
partici[)ators in the rebellion. He had then moved for- 
ward and crossed the North Carolina line into Tryon 
County, and had followed McDowell's men who had been 
beating about the mountain country since retiring from 
Smith's Ford on Broad River and were now retreating 
toward Watauga, in East Tennessee. 

McDowell, unable to meet Ferguson on equal terms, 
planned an ambuscade at Cowan's Ford on Cane Creek, 
about fifteen miles from Gilbert Town, by which he suc- 
ceeded in striking a blow and inflicting considerable loss 
on the enemy, killing several and, among otliers, severely 
wounding Major Dunlap. The British then retired to Gil- 
bert Town, carrying their wounded with them ; while Mc- 
Dowell's party, numbering about one hundred and sixty 
only, direrleil tlieir retreat up the Catawba valley. 

756 



756 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

While at Gilbert Town, Ferguson, remembering how the 
mountain-men had annoyed him and his detachment on the 
Pacolet at Thicketty Fork and at INIusgrove's Mills, paroled 
Samuel Philips, a distant relative of Colonel Isaac Shelby, 
whom he had taken prisoner, and sent him with a verbal 
message to the officers of the western waters of Watauga, 
Nolachucky, and Holston, that if they did not desist from 
their opposition to the British arms, he would march his 
army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay their 
country Avaste with fire and sword. This threat, says 
Draper, accomplished more than Ferguson bargained for. 
Philips, residing near Shelby's, went directly to him with 
the message, giving him, in addition, such intelligence as 
he could impart concerning the strength, locality, and inten- 
tions of the enemy.i Shelby immediately rode fifty or sixty 
miles to meet Lieutenant Colonel John Sevier, who com- 
manded the militia in Washington County, North Caro- 
lina, now part of Tennessee, embracing the Watauga and 
Nolachucky settlements, to inform him of the threatening 
message, and to concert measures for their mutual action. 
The result was that they resolved to anticipate Ferguson's 
invasion, and to carry into effect the plan Shelby, Clarke, 
and Williams had formed the previous month, immediately 
after the battle at Musgroves jMills, to raise all the men 
they could, and to surprise Ferguson in his camp, or at 
least attack him before he should be prepared to meet 
them. The day and place of meeting were agreed upon, 
'^riie time was the 25th day of September, and the Sj'camore 
Shoals on the Watauga was selected as being the most 
central point and abounding most in necessary supplies. 

An exjjress was at the same time sent to Colonel Cleve- 
land of Wilkes County, North Carolina, to apprise him of 
the designs and movements of tlie leaders on the western 
^ Kimfs Mountai)i and Us Heroes, 169. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 757 

waters and to request him to meet them with all the men 
he could raise at the appointed place on the east side of the 
mountain.^ Colonel Sevier began at once to arouse the bor- 
der men for the projected enterprise. In this he encountered 
no didicnlty. A few days brought more men to his stand- 
aid than it was tliought either prudent or safe to withdraw 
from the settlement. The whole military force of the dis- 
trict was estimated at considerably less than one thousand 
men. Fully one-half that number was necessary to man 
the forts and stations, and keep up scouting parties against 
the Indians on the extreme frontier. The remainder were 
immediately enrolled for the expedition. A difficulty 
aiose from another source. Many of the volunteers were 
unable to furnish horses and equipment. Colonel Sevier 
tried to boirow money on his own responsibility to fit out 
and furnish the expedition ; but the inhabitants, almost 
without exception, had expended their last dollar in tak- 
ing u[) land, and all the money of the county was thus in 
the hands of the entry taker. Sevier represented to that 
officer that the want of means was likely to retard and, in 

1 See a most interesting sketch of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland in 
Drajier's Kim/s MonnUdn and Us Heroes, 42r)-454 ; also in Roosevelt's 
Winnintj of the West, 258. Colonel Cleveland was one of the most 
marked of the remarkable assemblage of men at King's Mountain. lie 
had been a mighty hunter and Indian lighter, and an adventurous wan- 
derer in the wilderness. He was inexorable in his treatment of the 
Tories. Drajier has collected the traditions of nuinerous acts of great 
severity, if not cruelty, by him, but these are all traditions, and tradi- 
tions are unreliable. They grow as they come down from one to another. 
The execution of Colonel Ambro.se Mills and others at King's Mountain, 
of which we shall have to tell. — a measure of retaliation for which he 
was largely responsible doubtless, — had much to do with giving color 
ti> his reputation in this respect. Colonel Cleveland was not by any means 
a brutal m:in, as he has been doscribeil. Ilis will, providing among other 
tilings for tlie care of his ol<l and infirm house servants, attests a kindly 
disiiosilioii ; nor w;is he an illiteralo man for the times. 



758 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

some measure, to frustrate his exertions to carry on the expe- 
dition, and appealed to him to lend him the money for this 
purpose. John Adair was the entry taker, and his reply 
has worthily been preserved. " Colonel Sevier, I have no 
authority by law to make that disposition of this money. 
It belongs to the impoverished treasury of North Carolina, 
and I dare not appropriate a cent of it to any purpose. 
But if the country is overrun by the British, liberty is gone. 
Let the money go too. Take it. If the enemy, by its use, 
is driven from the country, I can trust that country to justify 
and vindicate my conduct. Take it." The money was taken 
and expended in the purchase of ammunition and the neces- 
sary equipments. Shelby and Sevier pledged themselves 
to see it refunded, or the act of the entry taker legalized by 
the legislature. This was scrupulously attended to at the 
earliest practicable moment, and Adair was exonerated. 
Colonel Sevier also undertook to bring into the measure 
Colonel McDowell and other leaders who with their fol- 
lowers were then in a state of exile among the western set- 
tlers. In this, it is scarcely necessary to say, he succeeded 
at once. 

To Shelby was assigned the part of securing the coopera- 
tion of the riflemen of western Virginia. These had in 
many a past campaign with the pioneers of Tennessee 
bivouacked and fought and triumphed together over a 
savage foe, and it was now deemed essential to obtain the 
aid of these gallant men in resisting the invasion of the 
common country. Shelby accordingly hastened liome, 
wrote a letter to William Campbell, Colonel Commandant 
of Washington County, Virginia, now part of Kentucky, 
and sent it by his brother, Moses Shelby, to the house 
of Campbell, a distance of forty miles. In this letter 
Shelby stated what had been determined by Sevier and 
himself and urged Campbell to join them with his regi- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 759 

nient. This Colonel Campbell hesitated and at first re- 
fused to do. Considering his first duty to be to Virginia, 
he proposed to niiuxh ch)\vn to the southern border of 
Virginia and lliere to be ready to meet and oppose Corn- 
wallis when he approached that State. With this answer 
Shelby was much disappointed ; but he did not give up 
the project, and upon a second letter to Colonel Campbell, 
giving additional reasons in favor of the proposed cam- 
paign, Campbell replied, agreeing to cooperate with his 
whole force. 

The camp on the Watauga, says Ramsey,^ on the 25th 
of September, presented an animated spectacle. With the 
exception of the few colonists on the distant Cumberland, 
the entire military force of what is now Tennessee was 
asseml)led at the Sycamoi-e Shoals. Scarce a single gun- 
man remained at home that day. The young and ardent 
had generally enrolled themselves for the campaign against 
Ferguson. The less vigorous and more aged were left 
with the inferior guns in the settlements, for their protec- 
tion against the Indians, but all had attended the rendez- 
vous. The old men were there to counsel, encourage, 
and stimulate the youthful soldiers and to receive from 
the Colonels instructions for the defence of the stations 
during their absence. Others were there to bring in rich 
profusion the products of their farms, which were cheer- 
fully furnished gratuitously and without stint, to com- 
plete the outfit of the expedition. Gold and silver they 
had not, but substance and clothing and equipments and 
the good liorse, an3-thing the fiontiersman owned, in the 
cabin, the field, or the range, was offered unostentatiously 
upon the altar of his country. The women were there, 
and with suppressed sighs witnessed the departure of hus- 
bands, lovers, and brothers. There were the heroic mothers, 
^ Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee. 



760 HISTORY 0¥ SOUTH CAROLINA 

with a mournful but noble pride to take a fond fare- 
well of their gallant sons. The sparse settlements of this 
frontier had never before seen assembled together a con- 
course of people so immense and so agitated by great 
excitement. The large mass of the assembly were volun- 
teer lifiemen, clad in the homespun of their women folk, 
and wearing the hunting shirt so characteristic of the 
backwood soldiery, and not a few of them, the moccasins 
of their own manufacture. A few officers were better 
dressed, but all in citizens' clothing. In the seclusion of 
their homes in the West many of these volunteers had 
only heard of war at a distance, and had been in undis- 
puted possession of that independence for which their 
Atlantic countrymen were now struggling. The near 
approach of Ferguson had awakened them from their 
security, and indignant at the violence and depredation of 
his followers, they were embodied to chastise and avenge 
them. This they had done at the suggestion and upon 
the motion of their own leaders without any call from 
Congress or the officers of the Continental army. The 
attitude of these volunteer detachments was as forlorn as 
it was gallant. At the time of their embodiment, and for 
several days after they had marched, it was not known to 
them that a single armed corps of Americans was mar- 
shalled for their assistance or relief. 

The little army organized at Sycamore Shoals consisted 
of 400 men from Virginia commanded by Colonel Camp- 
bell, 240 under Lieutenant Colonel Sevier, and 240 under 
Colonel Shelby, and the refugee Whigs 160 in number 
under Colonel Charles McDowell — all but the Virginians 
were from North Carolina, which then however included 
the present State of Tennessee. All were mounted and 
nearly all armed with a piece known as the Deckhard rifle, 
remarkable for the precision and distance of its shot. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 761 

Without delay, early on the morning of the 26th, the 
little army was on the march. But before the troops left 
the camp the ollicers requested that they should assemble 
for the purpose of connnending themselves to Divine pro- 
tection and guidance. They promptly complied with the 
request. Prayer, solemn and appropriate, was offered by a 
clergyman present, and the riflemen mounted their horses 
and started on the expedition against Ferguson. There 
wsis no staff, no quartermaster, no commissary, no sur- 
geon. As in all their Indian campaigns, being mounted 
and unencumbered with baggage, their motions were rapid. 
Wliile in the settlement some beeves were driven in the 
rear to furnish subsistence, but they impeded the rapidity 
of the march, and after the first day were abandoned.^ On 
the second day two men disappeared. It was at once 
believed that they had deserted and would doubtless 
escape to the enemy and apprise them of their approach, 
wliich afterwards proved to be true. Acting upon the as- 
sumption that their movement would soon be known to 
the enemy, the mountain men turned aside to the left, 
descending by a most dangerous path. Reaching the foot 
of the mountains on Saturda}^ tlie 30th, they were joined 
on the Catawba River by the troops from Wilkes and 
Surry counties, under the leadership of Colonel Cleve- 
land and Major Winston, reported at the time at 800, 
but really numbering only 350. ^ Resuming their march 
on Monday, the 1st of October, they advanced some 
eighteen miles, but were prevented from further 2)rogress 
by a rain which set in, and which dela^'ed them the next 
(lay. While thus i-emaining in a camp on the 2d, in a 
gap at South Mountain, a consultation of the ofiicers was 

1 Ramsey's AiDxils of Tt'tnu'ssce, 225, 2.S0. 

^ III')!'/'* Mountain and its IL-rncx (Oraper), 184; Ramsey, supra; 
Simtns's Hist. So. Ca. (1842), IWS. 



762 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

lield for the purpose of forming some better organization, 
as the disorders and irreguhirities wliich began to prevail 
among the troops unaccustomed to discipline and restraint 
occasioned no little uneasiness. Colonel IMcDowell, the 
senior officer present, presided. It was suggested that 
inasmuch as the troops were from different States no one 
properly had the right to command the whole, and as it 
was important that there should be a military head to 
their oi'ganization, a messenger should be sent to General 
Gates wherever he might be found, informing him of their 
situation, and requesting him to send a general officer to 
take the command. This was agreed to, but as expedition 
and dispatcli were all important at this critical juncture, 
it was proposed, in the meanwhile, that the corps com- 
manders should converse in council daily to determine on 
the measures for the ensuing day, and to appoint one of 
their own number to put them in execution. Colonel 
Shelby, wisely, was not satisfied with this arrangement, 
observing that they were within but sixteen or eighteen 
miles of Gilbert Town, where they supposed Ferguson to 
be, who would certainly attack them if strong enough to 
do so, or avoid them if too weak until lie could collect 
more men or obtain a reenforceraent with which they 
would not dare to cope, and lience it behooved them to act 
with decision and promptitude. They needed at once an 
efficient head and vigorous movements, and he proposed 
that as all the commanding officers were North Carolinians 
except Colonel Campbell, who was from Virginia, but wlio 
was known to be a man of good sense and devoted to the 
cause, and commanded the largest number of men present, 
he should be made commanding officer until a general ofli- 
cer should arrive from headquarters, and that they march 
immediately against the enemy. Colonel Campbell mod- 
estly hesitated to accept the important trust and urged 



IN THE REVOLUTION 763 

Shelby himself to assume the command. Colonel Mc- 
Dowell, who was entitled to the command if any one was, 
but wlio had the good of his country at heart more than 
any title to command, submitted gracefully to what was 
done ; but observed that as he could not be permitted to 
command he would, if agreeable, convey to headquarters 
the request for a general officer. This was warmly ap- 
proved, as no one better than himself could explain the 
situation and concert with General Gates a plan of future 
operations. McDowell at once set off on his mission, leav- 
ing liis men under the command of his brother Major 
Joseph McDowell. The hope was entertaiued that Gen- 
eral Morgan, who had gained such renown at Saratoga, and 
who had recently joined General Gates, would be sent to 
command them.^ 

On the morning of the 3d of October, while still in the 
gap at South Mountain, the officers took occasion before 
taking up tlie line of march to address a few stirring 
words to their followers. A circle was formed, and Colo- 
nel Cleveland thus addressed them : — 

" Now, my brave fellows, I have come to tell you the news. The 
enemy is at hand, and we must up and at them. Now is the time for 
every man of you to «lo his country a priceless service — such as shall 
lead your children to exult in the fact that their fathers were the 
conquerors of Ferijuson. When the pinch comes, I shall be with 
you. But if any of you shrink from sharing in the battle and glory, 
yon can now have the opportunity of backing out and leaving, and you 
shall iuive a few minutes for considering the matter." 

AfcDowell and Shelby made similar addresses, after which 
the word was given by the officers to their respective com- 
mands that " those who desiretl to ha'-k out should step 
three paces in the rear." Not a man accepted the offer. 
These appeals and tin; manner in which they were received 
* Kimfs Mountain and its Heroes, 18J-189. 



764 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

had the happy effect of inspiring confidence in the ranks, 
each iiian feeling that he could implicitly rely on his fel- 
lows to stand by him to the last. The march was resumed, 
but little progress made that day. The next day, October 
the 4th, they rene^yed the march, fording and refording 
Cane Creek many times, as the trail then ran, and at night 
reached the neighborhood of Gilbert Town. There they 
learned from Jonathan Hampton that Ferguson had re- 
treated from Gilbert Town, and that it was his purpose to 
evade an engagement. Here came in a party of thirty 
Georgians, under Major Chandler and Captain Johnston, 
of Colonel Clarke's party of refugees, who, learning of the 
assembling of the mountaineers to attack Ferguson, im- 
mediately left Clarke to join them. It was generally re- 
ported that Ferguson had gone some fifty or sixty miles 
southwardly, and two men came into camp who represented 
that he had directed his course to Ninety-Six, well-nigh one 
hundred miles away. It is necessary now to go back a 
little, and to recur to another part of the field to find out 
who these men were, and to explain their motives for this 
representation. 

It will be recollected that when Clarke, to whom the 
prisoners taken at Musgrove's Mills had been committed, 
determined to return to Georgia on the expedition against 
Augusta, he had turned over the prisoners to Colonel 
Williams. This officer proceeded with them to Hillsboro 
in North Carolina, where he safely lodged them with Gen- 
eral Gates, who was there attempting to gather and reor- 
ganize his routed army. It so happened that Governor 
Rutledge, who since his escape from Tarleton at Rugcley's 
Mills had gone to Philadelphia appealing to Congress and 
to the other States for assistance, urging the necessity of 
reenforcement, was now at Hillsboro where the General 
Assembly of North Carolina was also sitting, concerting 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 765 

with Governor Nash and General Gates upon the reor- 
ganization and su{)ply of the army. Colonel WiUanis's 
arrival there uitli the news of the victory at Musgrove's 
Mills, and the proof of the good news in the possession of 
the prisoners ho brought, was the first gleam of encourage- 
ment the despairing patriots at Ilillsboro had received since 
Gates's overwlielming defeat. Williams was the only one to 
tell the story of the battle, and his part in it was probably 
not represented any the less because of that circumstance. 
But however that may have been, Governor Rutledge, re- 
garding him as a valiant man that "cometh with good 
tidings," rewarded him with a commission of Brigadier 
(leneral, and Governor Nash with the privilege of organiz- 
ing a corps of mounted men in North Carolina. 

Sumter, after the surprise and defeat at Fishing Creek, 
had soon returned to the field and established himself at 
Jiis old quarters at Clem's Creek. From that point he 
sent Colonel Lacey into the country between the Broad 
and Catawba, now York and Chester counties, to beat 
up more men from among the Scotch-Irish there and to 
organize a mounted corps. All his former officers soon 
collected around Sumter, and lie was busy reorganizing his 
party in camp when Williams made his appearance, had 
his commission publicly read, and called upon all the offi- 
cers and men to fall in under his immediate command. 
This tliey flatly refused to do, and Williams was compelled 
to retire. Two equally conclusive reasons controlled the 
conduct of Sumter's men upon this occasion. Tlie first 
was personal devotion to Sumter, and the second, animos- 
ity to Williams himself. 

Sumter's men were volunteere. Wliile the State was 
without government, and while Governor Rutledge was 
in riiiladelphia and Virginia aj)pealing in vain to Con- 
gress for adequate assistance, and to (iovernor Jefferson 



766 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

for aid, these men had voluntarily organized themselves 
without connnissions and had chosen Sumter as their 
leader. Their organization was certainly very irregular, 
and there was little discipline among them. Indeed, so 
little did authority weigh that a council was held before 
every move was made, and a vote of the whole body 
was necessary for an undertaking. And however objec- 
tionable such a proceeding might appear in the eyes of the 
military critic, they knew that they had in this way thus 
far kept up the war against the invaders, had gained great 
and material advantag-es over them — advantages which 
had been lost to them by the folly and incompetence of 
the professional soldiers of the Continental arm}^ who had 
been grudgingly sent for the defence of the State. In this 
view they no doubt underrated the necessity of a proper 
military organization, but organization or not, they would 
fight under none but their own chosen leader. 

On the other hand, they would have Williams neither 
as a commander nor as a companion. They regarded him 
as a deserter and an embezzler. To understand this, recur- 
rence must be had to some events of the early summer. 
While Sumter was organizing liis force on this same spot 
early in the summer, Williams and some of his companions 
of Little River region had removed their families and all 
their effects to Granville County, North Carolina, where 
he had formerly lived, and had returned and joined Sum- 
ter, Williams frankly admitting that as he had brought 
with liim no men he could claim no command, but never- 
theless wished to serve his country in some position of 
usefulness. Colonel Hill, who knew him, suggested to 
Sumter, Avho needed an efficient commissar}', the appoint- 
ment of Williams, and he was accordingly appointed to 
serve in that capacity. An officer and twenty-five men 
with four teams and wagons were assigned to his service, 



IN Tin-: REVOLUTION 767 

and everything went well until after the battle of Hang- 
ing Rock on the 6th of August. But while Sumter was 
encamped on Cane Creek in the Waxhaws about the 12th 
of August, it was discovered that Williams had decamped 
without a word to Sumter on the subject, taking with him 
Colonel Brandon and a small party of followers, mostly of 
the Fair Forest region, together with a number of horses 
and other public supplies. Sumter and his officers were 
naturally indignant, and Colonel Lacey with a small guard 
was sent after the party for the purpose at least of recov- 
ering the public property. Colonel Hill in his narrative 
states that Lacey overtook the fugitive encamped on the 
western side of the Catawba, but finding Williams's party 
too strong to attempt coercive measures, resorted to other 
means to accomplish his purpose. Lacey, who was a man 
of remarkable personal prowess as well as courage, invited 
Williams to take a walk with him, and as soon as out of 
reach of the camp turned suddenly u})on him and present- 
ing a pistol to his breast threatened him with instant 
death. Upon which Williams pledged his word of honor 
that he would tiike back all the public property and as 
many of the men as he could prevail upon to return with 
him. But once free from the duress, Williams, regardless 
of his promise, had hastened with his party and public 
property to Smith's Ford, where he joined McDowell, and, 
as we have seen, participated in the successful expedition 
against the enemy at Musgrove's Mills. Williams, no doubt, 
justified himself in the matter by arguing that he had as 
much right to judge of what was best for the country as 
Sumter, who had no more of a commission than himself, 
and that it was as necessary to be carrying the war into 
his section, the Fair Forest region, as into the Waxhaws to 
which Sumter was practically restricting himself. But 
however such specious arguments may have satisfied his 



768 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

own conscience, they made no impression on the minds of 
Sumter's men, who regarded him in the light of a deserter 
and betrayer of a trust.^ 

Soon after this Cornwallis had detached Rawdon and 
Tarleton to surprise Sumter and break up his new camp, 
but Sumter, learning of his movement, crossed the Catawba 
to the west side at Biger's (afterwards Mason's) Ferry, 
and there encamped. At this camp a convention or coun- 
cil was called by Colonel Hill to consider the matter of 
Williams's commission and its effect upon Sumter's com- 
mand. A skirmish between Rawdon's advance and Sum- 
ter's across the river broke up the convention, but it resumed 
its deliberations as soon as the party had marched to a safe 
distance up the river. It was then determined to send a 
delegation to Governor Rutledgfe at Hillsboro, remonstrat- 
ing against Williams's commission as superseding Sumter's. 
The delegates were Colonel Richard Winn, Colonel Henry 
Hampton, Colonel Thomas, Colonel Myddleton,^ and, it 
is supposed. Colonel Thomas Taylor.^ It was also agreed 
that Sumter should retire during the absence of these 
gentlemen, and that in tlie meanwhile Colonel Hill and 
Colonel Lacey should command Sumter's party. Hill and 
Lacey then continued the march up the river, which they 
recrossed at Tuckasegee Ford, a few miles north of Char- 
lotte, with the intention of forming a junction with General 
Davidson and the North Carolina militia. An express 
was sent to Davidson, from whom Hill and Lacey learned 
in reply that a number of men from the west as well as 
from the east of the mountains were marching with the 

1 IlilTs narrative, MSS. ; Kincfs Mountain and its Heroes, 1G5-108, 
405-407. 

'^ This name is usually spelt in the histories Middelton, but his signature 
in the Sumter MSS. is Chas. S. Myddleton. He was from Orangeburgh 
District. 

^ Kimfs Mountain and its Heroes, 108. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 769 

intention of attacking Colonel Ferguson. Upon this in- 
formation the party again crossed the Catawba a little 
liigher up, at Beattie's Ford. Here Williams again made 
liis appearance, and in the absence of Sumter again asserted 
his right to connnand, but which was not allowed. 

Upon the refusal of Sumter's men to receive him, Will- 
iams returned to North Caiolina, and on the 23d of Sep- 
tember, the day after, as it happened, that Cornwallis 
entered Charlotte, he issued a call for recruits which was 
headed " A call to arms," " Beef, Bread, and Potatoes," 
and was based, as was understood, on the fact that Gov- 
ernor Nash had given ordei-s to the commissaries of the 
State to furnish Williams with such supplies as might 
be necessary. Under this call AVilliams enlisted about 
seventy men while encamped at Iliggins's plantation, in 
what is now Rowan County. Colonel Brandon and Major 
Samuel Hammond, also from the Ninety-Six District in 
South Carolina, were his lieutenants. Colonel Hill in his 
narrative is scarcely more complimentary to the character 
of the men Williams thus collected than to that of Will- 
iams himself; he describes them as "such as did not 
choose to do duty under their own ofticers," and who were 
induced to engage under him b}- Williams "promising 
them that if they would go with him to South Carolina, 
they would get as many negroes and horses as they chose 
to take from tlie Tories." In regard to the first part of 
this criticism upon the character of these men, it is to be 
observed that the terms of Governor Nash's order war- 
ranted Williams in obtaining volunteers from other com- 
mands, for it especially directed him " in getting your 
men you are to make no distinction between men already 
drafted and othei"s." ^ As to the second, it may be that in 
the loose morality of a civil war the promise of spoils was 
1 Xo. fa., 1780-1781 (Schenck), 143. 

VOL. HI. — 3 D 



770 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

often more eflicacious as an inducement to recruits than 
that of liberty ; ^ but however this may have been in this 
instance, Williams was not singular in resorting to such, 
in order to fill his ranks. ^ Having raised this little force, 
Williams again turned toward South Carolina, and push- 
ing forward some sixty or seventy miles southwest of 
Salisbury, where, after crossing the Catawba at the Tucka- 
segee Ford on the 2d of October,^ he came up with Sumter's 
party. Upon joining them he again had his commission 
read, and required Hill and Lacey to submit to his author- 
ity. This was again indignantly refused. Hill informing 
him that there was not an officer or a man among them 
who would submit to his command, and also that the 
delegation had been sent to Governor Rutledge upon the 
subject. Williams thereupon withdrew and formed his 
camp at a distance from that of Hill and Lacey. 

On the same day Colonel Graham and Hambright joined 
the South Carolinians with a small party of some sixty 
men from the neighborhood of Gilbert Town. That even- 
ing Colonel Hill suggested to Colonel Lacey that as they 
might soon have to encounter an enemy superior to all 
their parties together, it might be better to conciliate 
Colonel Williams so as not to lose his assistance, though 
small was his party. This Colonel Lacey approved, and 
it was proposed that the troops should be organized into 
three divisions, to wit: the South Carolinians under Hill 
and Lacey ; the North Carolinians under Graliam and 
Hambright ; and Williams and his followers, who had now 
been joined by Captain Roebuck's company, perliaps some 
twenty or thirty in number — a commanding officer to be 

1 Jung's Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 102. 

2 See letter of Cdloiiel Kicliard Hampton to Major John Hampton, 
April 2, 1781 ; Gibbes's Documrntary Hist., 47 ; and /)os«. 

2 King's Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 192. 



IN THE IlEVOLUTIOX 771 

chosen for tlie wliole. The next morning these proposi- 
tions were submitted to Williams, but he "spurned them," 
asserting his right by his commission to command the 
whole. Upon this he was warned to absent himself, and 
not attempt to march with either Graliam's or Hill's party. 
Williams then acquiesced, and an officer was chosen to 
command. Who was the officer is not mentioned by Hill. 
That day scouts came in with the intelligence that the 
mountain men were advancing ; and the next, the 5th, 
they learned that Ferguson had sent a dispatch to Lord 
Cornwallis, that he had pitched his camp in a strong posi- 
tion ; that he had completed the business of his mission in 
collecting and training the friends of the King in that 
quarter, so that he could now bring a reenforcement of 
upwards of one thousand men to the Royal army ; but 
that, as the intervening distance, tliirty or forty miles, to 
Charlotte was through a lebellious country, he asked that 
his lordship would send Tarleton with his horse and in- 
fantry to escort him to headquarters.^ 

During the day Williams and. Brandon disappeared, and 
Colonel Hill was informed that they had taken a pathway 
that led to the mountains. They returned after sunset, 
when Hill immediately demanded to know where they had 
been. This Williams refused to tell, but upon Hill's 
insisting that as honorable men they were bound to impart 
whatever knowledge they had gained for the good of the 
whole, Williams at length acknowledged that they had 
visited the mountain men, who were on the march from 
the neighl)orli()()d of (Jilbert Town, and stated that these 
men expected them to form a junction with then^. at the 
Old Iron Works at Lawson's Foik, in what is now Spar- 
tanburg County, South Carolina. To this Hill remarked 
that that would be marching directly out of the way from 
1 Hill's narrative, Sumter MSS. 



772 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Ferguson, while it was undoubtedl}^ the imrpose of the 
mountain men to fight Ferguson, who had sent to Corn- 
wallis for Tarleton to go to his relief. That this reen- 
forcement might be expected in a day or two, and that if 
the battle was not fought before Tarleton's arrival, it was 
very certain it would not be fought at all ; that Fer- 
guson was now in South Carolina within striking distance, 
and it appeared as if Heaven had in mercy sent these 
mountain men to punish the arch enemy of the people. 
Colonel Hill states that Williams seemed for some 
moments embarrassed, but finally admitted that he had 
made use of deception in order to diiect the attention of 
the mountaineers to Ninety-Six. "I then used the free- 
dom to tell him," says Colonel Hill, "that I plainly saw 
through his design, which was to get the army into his 
own settlement, as well as to get some of his property, and 
plunder the Tories." In the course of the conversation 
Williams declared Avith considerable warmth that the 
North Carolinians might fight Ferguson or let it alone, 
that their business was to fight for their own country. 
Hill immediately informed Lacey of this conversation, and 
expressed the opinion that if they did not get better infor- 
mation Ferguson would undoubtedly escape. It will be 
recosfnized at once that Williams and Brandon were the 
two men who had reported to the mountain men that Fer- 
guson had gone to Ninety-Six. Hill was still suffering 
from the wound he had received at Hanging Rock, carry- 
ing his arm still in a sling, so Lacey undertook to make 
his way across to the mountain men to correct any false 
impressions which Williams might have made upon them. 
A guide was procured, and Lacey started with him about 
eight o'clock in the evening. In crossing the spur of a 
mountain they lost the path, and Lacey was on the point 
of killing the guide, believing that he was betrayed and 



IN THE K EVOLUTION 773 

misled by him, wlien, fortunatel^s just before da}-, he found 
himself in the camp of his friends. Lacey was at once 
taken in charge, blindfolded, and conducted to the 
colonels, to whom he introduced himself as Colonel 
Lacey. The ollicers at first re[)ulsed his advances, taking 
him to be a Tory spy. He had the address, however, to 
convince them that he was no impostor, and learned from 
them that Williams and Brandon had been with them, and 
represented that Ferguson had gone to Ninety-Six, and 
that they had agreed to form a junction with the South 
Carolinians on Lawson's Fork of Pacolet. This confirmed 
Lacey in the opinion formed by Hill and himself of Will- 
iams's intention to mislead the mountain men into his own 
part of the country, upon the belief that they were follow- 
ing Ferguson ; and Campbell and his associates were not a 
little indignant at the deception which had been practised 
upon them, and which had so nearly defeated the whole 
object of their expedition. Lace}^ undertook to bring the 
South Carolinians to the mountaineers, and it was agreed 
that the junction should be formed the next evening at 
"the Cowpens," a point nearly midway between the 
Broad and Pacolet rivers, in what is now Spartanburg 
County, between three and four miles below the North 
Carolina line — a spot which was soon itself to become 
famous as the battle-field of a great American victory. 

Lacey 's jaded horse having been well provided for, him- 
self partaken of a frugal re[)ast, and taking only a few 
Ijours' sleep, started l)ack before da}', and leached his camp 
at about ten o'clock, having ridden about sixty miles in 
fourteen hours.^ Williams, intent upon carrying his point 
of getting control of Sumter's men, and marching them 
toward Ninety-Six, had, before Lacey 's return, gone the 
rounds of the camp of the South Carolinians, ordering 
* Life of General Edward Lacey (Moore), 10-17. 



774 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

officers and men to prepare to march for the Okl Iron 
Works; but Colonel Hill followed quickly, exposing his 
designs and directing the men to await Colonel Lacey's 
return, that they might know certainly to what point to 
march, in order to form the expected junction with their 
friends from the West. He urged the folly of making a 
foray into the region of Ninety-Six, simply for the sake of 
Tory booty, when Ferguson with his strong force would 
be left in the rear to entrap and cut them off. Colonel 
Hill then called upon all who loved their country and 
were ready to stand firmly by it in its hour of distress to 
form a line on the right ; and those who preferred to 
plunder rather than courageously to meet the enemy, 
to form a line on the left. Colonel Hill adds that the 
greater portion took their places on the right, leaving but 
a few followers of Williams to occupy the other position. 
Upon Lacey's return the march to join the mountaineers 
was immediately commenced. Williams and his followers 
hung upon the rear of the column, evidently afraid to 
separate themselves from their former comrades, and 
finally abandoned the idea of going alone to Ninety-Six. 
About sunset, after a march of some twenty miles, the 
South Carolinians arrived at the Cowpens, where they 
were soon after joined by the mountaineers. 

Colonel Lacey's visit had been most opportune. It had 
not only decided the course of his own party, but had pre- 
vented the abandonment of the expedition by the western 
men. Some, at least, of the leaders of these had begun to 
doubt the policy of continuing the uncertain pursuit of 
Ferguson, lest by being led too far away their prolonged 
absence from their mountain homes might invite a raid 
from the hostile Cherokees upon their unprotected fami- 
lies. Lacey's information and spirited appeals reassured 
the timid, and imparted new courage to the hopeful. In- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 775 

stead of directing their course, as they otherwise Avould 
have done, to the Old Iron Works, on Lawson's P^ork of 
the Pacolet, some fifteen miles out of their way, they 
marched direct for Cowpens, a distance of some twenty 
miles, all together reaching the place of rendezvous, as has 
just been said, soon after sunset, a short time after the 
arrival of the Carolinians and their associates under 
Colonels Hill, Lacey, Williams, and Graham. 

For an hour or two on the evening of the 6th of October 
there was a stirring bivouac at the Cowpens. This was 
one of the cowpens, or ranches, spoken of in a chapter on 
the settlement of the upper country in a former work.^ It 
was owned by a wealthy English Tory named Saunders^ who 
resided there, and wlio reared large numbers of cattle, sev- 
eral of whicli Avere at once slaughtered to feed the liungry 
Whigs. While the men and horses were refreshed, scouts 
were sent out to ascertain the exact position of Ferguson 
and his command. 

1 So. Ca. %i7uler Hoy. Gov. (McCratly), 206. 

2 Johnson, in his Life of Greene, says that the name of the owner was 
Hannah, and that the place was called Hannah's Cowpen. Vol. I, 377. 
Draper gives the name as Saunders. Kintfs Mountain and its Heroes, 223. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

1780 

The order of Cornwallis's advance proposed that his 
lordship with the main army should pass through the 
most hostile parts of both of tlie two provinces, the 
Waxhaws in South Carolina and Mecklenburg County in 
North Carolina, while P^erguson was to move by tlie foot 
of the mountains, and Tarleton to pursue an intermediate 
course through the country between the Broad and the 
Catawba.^ It has been seen how his lordship's advance 
had been insulted — to use the expression of the times 
— and attacked by Davie, and his entrance into Char- 
lotte withstood, and how Dunlap, Ferguson's lieutenant, 
had been repulsed by McDowell at Cowen's Ford. Fer- 
guson appears to have been more intent upon intercept- 
ing Clarke's fugitives from Georgia than cooperating 
with liis lordship. While at Gilbert Town lie had fur- 
loughed many of his Tory followers upon their promise 

1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 215. 

We shall follow in this chapter very closely Draper's account in his 
Kiiu/s Mountain and its Heroes, a work of the greatest care and labor, 
which mu.st remain the foundation of all other histories of an evenlf of 
momentous influence in the history of this country — a work which has 
not received the credit due it. In Governor Roosevelt's Winuiufj of the 
West there is also a most intensely interesting and admirable account 
of the battle. While so availing ourselves of and following Draper's 
account of this battle, we are enabled to supplement it by Colonel Hill's 
MS. account found among General Sumter's papers, and we believe for 
the first time quoted. This account of Hill's time gives the particulars 
of the movements of the Carolina men. 

776 



IN THE REVOLUTION 777 

to rejoin liiin on a sliort notice, and had tarried there 
longer than a due regard for his lordship's movement 
warranted. It is probable that his object in furloiighing 
so man}' at this juncture was that by scattering them to 
their homes in the country through wliich Clarke's men 
were likely to pass, he would secure the earliest infor- 
mation of their approach. With the same purpose he 
moved, on the 27th of September, to the Green River 
region. While there on the 30th, little dreaming of any 
impending danger, he was rudely awakened from his sense 
of security. The two Whig deserters who had left tlie 
mountain men on the second day of their march arrived 
in camp, with the alaiming intelligence of their approach. 
These " Back-water men," as Ferguson termed them, to 
whom he liad sent the message by Philips, were coming 
themselves with the answer. They had not awaited his 
leisure to inflict the punishment he had threatened, but 
were now close at hand to dare him ^o attempt it. This 
watcli and delay, in order to entrap the Georgians and 
the threat to the mountaineers, brought about his own 
speedy destruction. 

Ferguson at once recognized the danger of his situation, 
but was apparently still reluctant to give up the hope of 
cutting off the retreat of Clarke's party. He promptly 
sent dispatches to Cornwallis, informing him of his danger, 
and of his purpose to hasten to join his lordship ;i and 
on the same day, tlie -SOth, he wrote to Lieutenant Colonel 
Cruger for reenforcements. The mutilations and ciphers 
in Cruger's reply, found on Ferguson's body after his 
death at King's Mountain, conceals the exact number he 
called for; but it was doubtless considerable, for Cruger 
writes: "I begin to think our views for the present 

1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 222 ; Tarleton's Campaigns. 164. 



778 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

rather large. We have been led to this probably in 
expecting too much from the militia, as, for instance, 
you call for . . . regiment. There are but just one-half 
that number. . . ." ^ But while sending out these a[)peals 
for reenforcements and promising Cornwallis to join him, 
the fatal infatuation of intercepting Clarke still delayed 
him. He kept out scouts in every direction seeking 
information as to the Georgians, while the Virginians, 
North and South Carolinians, were drawing their net closer 
and closer around him. On Sunday, the 1st of October, 
while beating about the countr}^, he visited Baylis Earle's 
plantation on North Pacolet, where his men destroyed 
and plundered at pleasure. He then marched to Denard's 
(or Donard's) Ford, on the Broad River, making his camp 
there for the night. From this place he issued the follow- 
ing curious proclamation : ^ — 

"Denard's Ford, Broad River. "i 
• "Tryon County, October 1, 1780. j 

" Gentlemen : Unless you wish to be eat up by an inundation of 
barbarians, who have begun by murdering an unarmed sou before 
the aged father, and afterwards lopped off his arms, and who, by 
these shocking cruelties and irregularities, give the best proof of their 
cowardice and want of discipline — I say, if you wish to be pinioned, 
robbed, and murdered, and see your wives and daughters in four 
days abused by the dregs of mankind — in short, if you wish or 
deserve to live and bear the name of men, grasp your arms in a 
moment and run to camp. 

" Tlie Back-water men have crossed the mountains. IMcDowell, 
Hampton, Shelby, and Cleveland are at their heads, so that you know 
what you have to depend upon. If you choose to be degraded forever 
and ever by a set of mongrels, say so at once, and let your women turn 
their backs upon you and look out for real men to protect them. 

"Patrick Ferguson, Major 71st llegiment." 

^ Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, 242. 

2 King''s Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 204 ; Ramsey's Annah nf 
Tennessee. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 779 

From Doiiard's Ford, Fei-gusoii and Lis troops, according 
to Allaire's Diary, marched on Monday afternoon, the 2d, 
only four miles, where they formed in line of action and 
lay on their arms all night. They moved at four o'clock 
the next morning, marching about twenty miles that day 
on a route north of main Broad River, and halted near 
one Tate's plantation. These desultory movements of 
Ferguson indicate an indecision not at all in accordance 
with his general character. It was still the fatal hope of 
interrupting Clarke that enthralled him. It is possible, 
moreover, says Draper, that Ferguson might have felt the 
necessity of feeling his way carefully, that while evading 
the mountaineers on the one hand, he shonld not run 
recklessly into other dangers which might prove equally 
as formidable ; for Lord Cornwallis had, on the 28d of 
September, apprised him that Colonel Davie's party of 
Whig cavalry had marched against him, which Fei'guson's 
apprehensions and Tory fears may have magnified into a 
much larger body than eighty dragoons.^ Ferguson 
tarried two full days at Tate's, probably awaiting intelli- 
gence as to the movements of the Whigs. This he prob- 
ably received on the evening of the 5th, for the army 
renewed its march at fonr o'clock on Friday morning, 
tlie 0th. During this day Colonel Ferguson sent the 
following dispatch to Lord Cornwallis, withont date, but 
the time of which Draper no doubt fixes correctly: — 

"i\Iv Loud: A (l()iil)t does not remain with regard to the intelli- 
gence I sent yoiu- lordship. They are since joined by Clarke and 
Sumter, of course are become an object of some consequence. Hap- 
pily their leaders are obliged to I'eed their followers with such hopes, 
and so to flatter them with accounts of our weakness and fear that if 



' King's Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 207 ; Tarletou's Cam- 
paigns, note E, chap. Ill, lOi'. 



780 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

necessary I should hope for success against them myself ; but num- 
bers compared, that must be doubtful. 

I am on my march toward you by a road leading from Cherokee 
Ford, north of King's Mountain. Three or four hundred good 
soldiers, part dragoons, would finish the business. Something must 
he done soon. This is their last push in this quarter, etc. 

" Patrick Feugusox." 

Unfortunately for Ferguson neither of his dispatches 
reached bis lordshi[) in time. His first dispatcli, of the 
30tli of September. Avas intrusted to Abraham Collins and 
Peter Quinn, who resided on the borders of the two Caro- 
linas, and were well acquainted witli the route. Enjoined 
to make the utmost expedition and deliver the letter as 
soon as possible, they took the most direct course. On 
their way they stopped at the house of Alexander Henry, 
a good Whig, and disguising their true character and mis- 
sion obtained refreshments. But renewing their journey 
with undue haste, the suspicions of Mr. Henry's family were 
excited and Air. Henry's sons immediately set out in pur- 
suit. They followed closely in the trail ; but the Tory 
messengers, anticipating this by taking a circuitous route, 
misled them. In doing so, however, the dispatch was 
delayed on its course, and did not reach Cornwallis till the 
morning of the Tth of October, the day of Ferguson's final 
overthrow. The second dispatch fell into the hands of 
the Whigs. No effort was therefore made by Cornwallis 
for the relief of Ferguson. In the meanwhile a small 
party of Clarke's men, wdiom Ferguson had wished so much 
to intercept, under Major Chronicle, had actually joined 
Williams, and served to swell that small corps.^ 

Resuming his march at four o'clock on the morning of 
the 6th, Ferguson marched up the Old Cherokee Ferry 
road between the waters of Buffalo and King's Creek 

^ King''s Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 227. 







I sky 










A 

s 'C-s'l 



-■* fc , J ■ .If'* 



IN THE REVOLUTION 781 

until lie came to the forks near where now is Whitaker's 
.Station on the present Southern Railroad. There he took 
the right prong leading across King's Creek, through a 
pass in the mountain, and on in the direction of Yorkville. 
Here, a short distance after crossing the creek on the right 
of the road, about 350 yards from the pass, he came to 
King's Mountain 10 miles from Tate's, his last halting- 
place. 

The King's Mountain range is about 16 miles in length, 
extending from the northeast in North Carolina in a 
southwesterly course, sending out several lateral spurs in 
various directions. The principal elevation in this range, 
a sort of lofty rocky tower called The Pinyiacle^ is some 6 
miles distant from the battle-ground. That portion of it 
now historically famous is in York County, South Caro- 
lina, about a mile and a half south of the North Carolina 
line. It is some 600 yards long and about 250 from one 
base across to the other, or from 60 to 120 wide on the 
top, tapering to the south. ^ Mills describes this fatal hill 
as a long stony ridge very narrow at the top, on which 
lines could not be thrown up, and so narrow that a man 
standing on it might be shot from either side. The supply 
of water was inconvenient to procure.^ Its summit was 
some 60 feet above the level of the surrounding country. 
As Draper observes, Ferguson's dispatch to Lord Corn- 
wallis, written the day before the battle, shows conclu- 
sively that this mountain bore its prefix of "King's" at 
that time, and that its sul)sequent occupancy by the King's 
troops had nothing to do in giving to it this appellation. 
Indeed, Moultrie says that it took its name from one King 
who lived at the foot of the mountain.'^ Strange to say, 
Ferguson deliberately chose this spot, stoutly affirming 

* Kind's Mountain and its Heroes (Diapor). 200. 

* Mills's Statistics, 778. " Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 243. 



782 HISTORY 0]r SOUTH CAROLINA 

that upon it he would be able to destroy any force the 
Whigs could bring against him. So confident was he in 
the strength of the position that he declared that God 
Almighty could not drive him from it. The only re- 
deeming feature of the place was the abundance of wood 
with which to form abatis, but Ferguson did not avail 
himself of this means of defence, and only placed his bag- 
frasfe Avaeons alonaf the northeastern part of the mountain, 
in the neighborhood of headquarters, so as to form some 
slight appearance of protection. Here he remained inactive 
and exposed, awaiting the return of his fuiioughed men 
and the expected succor. Within some thirty-five miles of 
his lordship's camp, a distance he could easily have trav- 
ersed, says Draper, in a few hours, yet he lingered two 
days at Tate's and one on King's ISIountain, deluded with 
the hope of gaining undying laurels when Fate, the fickle 
goddess, had only in store for him defeat, disaster, and 
death. 

Draper gives interesting stories of the exploits of the 
spies sent out from the Whig bivouac at Cowpens. John 
Kerr, a cripple, at this time a member of Williams's party, 
had been dispatched to gain intelligence of Ferguson, and 
found him at Peter Quinn's, six or seven miles from King's 
Mountain, and intending to march to that point during the 
afternoon. It was a region of many Tories, and Kerr 
found no difficulty in gaining access to Ferguson's camp. 
Having been a cripple from his infancy, he passed unsus- 
pected of his true character, making anxious inquiries 
relative to taking protection, and professedly gratified on 
learning good news concerning the King's cause and pros- 
pects. After managing, by his natural shrewdness and 
good sense, to make all the observations he could, he quietly 
retired, making his way, probably in a somewhat circuitous 
course, to lejoin his countrymen. As they were on tlie wing, 



IN THE KE VOLUTION 783 

he did not overtake them till the evening of that day at the 
Cowpens, when he was able to report to the Wliig chiefs Fer- 
guson's movements and position, and that his numbers did 
not exceed fifteen hundred men. Encouraged by this re- 
port, the Whig leaders determined, nevertheless, to obtain 
yet later intelligence, and Enoch Gilmer, a shrewd, cunning 
fellow and a stranger to fear, was selected among others 
and started off on liis mission. He called at a Tory's 
house not many miles in advance, and represented to him 
that he had been waiting on Ferguson's supposed route 
from Denard's Ford to Ninety-Six, intending to join his 
forces; but Ferguson not marching in that direction, he 
was now seeking his camp. The Tory, not suspecting 
Gilmer's true character, frankly related all he knew or had 
learned of Ferguson's movements and intentions. Gilmer 
returned to the Ci)wpens before the troops took up their 
line of march that evening. 

Meanwhile a council was held in which the newly joined 
oflicers, with the exception of Colonel Williams, partici- 
pated. Colonel Campbell was retained in chief command, 
"in courtesy," says Colonel Hill, "to him and his regi- 
ment, who had marched the greatest distance." Men and 
horses refreshed, they started about nine o'clock on their 
night's march in quest of Ferguson. To what extent the 
North and South Carolinians who joined the mountain 
men at the Cowpens added to their numbers, says Draper, 
is not certainly known, but .as they were less jaded than the 
othei-s, they probably reached about their full quota of 400. 
Williams had a few days before called them in round 
nurtibei*s 4r)0, including his own corps. Thus the combined 
force at the Cowpens was about 1100 men, and nearly all 
well armed with rifles. A selection was made by the 
officers from the several parties, so that the whole number 
of mounted men tinallv chosen to attack Fercjuson was 



784 HISTOllY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

about 910, besides a squad of uucounted footmen. The 
relative strength of the respective corps was probably as 
follows : Campbell's men 200, Shelby's 120, Sevier's 120, 
Cleveland's 110, McDowell's 90, and Winston's GO, making 
700 chosen at Green River. Additional troops selected at 
the Cowpens: Lacey's 100, Williams's 60, and Graham's and 
Hambright's 50, making 210, — total combined forces 910 
mounted men. The few footmen who followed generally 
joined their respective corps ; some united with the 
column most convenient to them when the time of the 
trial arrived. 

The night was very daik ; a drizzling rain soon set in 
which at least a part of the time became very hard. While 
the road was pretty good, yet from the darkness the guides 
of Campbell's men lost their way, and his corps became 
much confused and scattered through the woods ; so that 
when morning appeared the rear portion, as Hill's narrative 
informs us, was not more than five miles from the Cowpens. 
Discovering the absence of the Virginians, men were sent 
from the front at the dawn of day in all directions till the 
wanderers were found and brought in. Once more united, 
with the light of day to guide them, the Whigs pushed 
forward with great earnestness. They had designed cross- 
ing Broad River at Tate's, since Deer's (or Dare's) Ferry, 
as the most direct route to King's Mountain ; but as they 
came near they concluded to bear down the river some two 
and a half miles to the Cherokee Ford, lest the enemy, per- 
adventure, might be in possession of the eastern bank of 
the stream at Tate's Crossing. It was near daylight wlicn, 
on the River Hill, Gilmer was again sent forward to recon- 
noitre at the ford. While awaiting his return, orders were 
given to the men to kee[) their guns dry, as it w.as still 
raining. Gilmer returned, reporting tlie river clear. It 
was about sunrise when they reached the river, which, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 785 

though deep, was crossed without loss or diflicult3\ The 
Wliiq's liad now maiched some ei<jfliteen miles, and were 
yet some lifteen miles from King's Mountain. After pass- 
ing the river Gilmer was ag.ain sent forward. The officers 
I'ode at a slow gait in fiont of their men. Some three miles 
above Cherokee Ford they came to Fei'guson's former en- 
campment, where they halted a short time, taking such a 
snack as their wallets and saddle-bags afl'orded. The rain 
continued to fall so heavily during the forenoon that Colo- 
nels Campbell, Sevier, and Cleveland concluded from the 
weary and jaded condition of both men and beasts it was 
best to halt and refresh them. jMany of the horses had 
given out. But against this Shelby protested, and the 
march was continued. The men could only keep their 
guns dry by wrapping their bags, blankets, and hunting 
shirts around the locks, thus leaving their own persons 
exposed to the inclemency of the weather. Proceeding a 
mile after the proposed halt, they learned from a half-Whig, 
half-Loyalist, that Ferguson was only eight miles in 
advance. There, too, they had the good fortune to capture 
a couple of Tories, who, at the peril of their lives, were 
made to \n\ot the army to King's Mountain. About noon 
the rain ceased and cleared off with a fine cool breeze. 
Five miles fai'ther some of Sevier's men stopped at the 
house of a Loyalist, from wliom they could only gain the 
information tliat Ferguson was not far away. As they left 
a girl followed tlie riflemen out of tlie building and 
incpiired, " How many are there of you ? " " Enough," was 
the rei)ly, " to whip Ferguson, if we can find him." " He 
is on that mountain," she said, pointing to the eminence 
tluee miles distant. Gilmer was soon after overtaken at 
the house of a Tory, quietly sitting at the table eating. 
Not at all disturbed or thrown off of his guard, he still 
swore to Colonel Campbell in the presence of the women 
VOL. ui. —3b 



786 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the house that he was a true King's man, and allowed 
himself to be lassoed and removed to be hanged. ^Nlajor 
Chronicle interposed to prevent his execution at the gate, 
as his ghost niiglit lemain to haunt the women, who were 
in tears. Campbell acquiesced, saying they would reserve 
him for the first convenient overhanofinfj limb on the road. 
Once fairly out of sight of the house, Gilmer was released 
and told the intelligence he had gained. He had learned 
from the youngest of the women that she had been in 
Ferguson's camp that very morning and had carried the 
British commander some chickens ; that he was posted on 
a ridge between two branches, where some deer hunters 
had a camp the previous autumn. Major Chronicle and 
Captain Mattocks stated that the camp referred to was 
theirs, and that they well knew the ground.^ 

The officers, now positively informed of Ferguson's posi- 
tion, rode a short distance by tliemselves and agreed upon 
a plan of attack. In accordance with the invariable cus- 
tom of these volunteer parties, the plan was reported to 
the men for their approval, and was cordially adopted. 
The plan was to surround Ferguson's army and shoot at 
them up hill. This had two great advantages. It ran no 
risk of the Whigs shooting each other, and it was supposed 
that marksmen in a valley had tlie advantage of those on 
a hill. Hunters find that though apprised of this, they 
often shoot too high when tliey are above their object. 
Be that as it may, the result in this battle was that the 
British bullets whistled over the heads of the Americans, 
while theirs took deadly effect.^ It was a question wliether 
the Whigs were numerous enough to surround the entire 
ridge on all sides, for they did not know its exact length ; 

1 Kinrfs Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 227, 230 ; Publications 
Southern Hist. Assoc, vol. IV, 338. 

2 Mills's Statistics, 779. 



IX THE REVOLUTION 787 

but the sclienie was heartily approved by all, and the offi- 
cers, without delay, began to settle upon the position each 
corps was to occupy in the attack. 

As the Whigs approached within a mile of the enemy, 
tiiey obtained from one who had been a prisoner with Fer- 
guson and had just been paroled the latest information, 
with the assurance that the enemy still maintained his po- 
sition on the mountain. A brief halt was made. Hitherto 
the men had been marching singl}^ or in squads, as might 
best suit their convenience. " But little subordination," 
says Colonel Hill, " had been required or expected." The 
men were now formed into two lines, two men deep, Colo- 
nel Campbell leading the right line and Colonel Cleveland 
the left. Another council of officers appears to have been 
held, in which, however, Williams was not permitted to 
take part, as he was still distrusted in consequence of his 
recent efforts to mislead the mountain men. The plan of 
attack to sun-ound the enemy was adhered to. The strict- 
est silence was enjoined. 

Draper points out the remarkable circumstance that in 
the battle about to take place Ferguson was probably the 
only British soldier present. All the rest on either side 
were colonists. It was a fight between American Whigs 
and Tories alone. And now that Dunlap was away, Fer- 
guson's men seem to have been as unobjectionable a class 
as are ordinarily found in tlie ranks of an army. Abra- 
ham de Peyster, the second in command, was descended 
from an ancient and influential Knickerbocker family, 
and entered tlie Royal service as a Captain in the New 
York volunteers. Samuel Ryerson, another of Ferguson's 
cai)tains, was a native of New Jersey, of Dutch descent, 
and entered the service as a Captain in tlie New Jersey 
volunteers. Of the same regiment was Lieutenant John 
Taylor. Ferguson's adjutant, Aiilliony Allaire, was of 



788 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Huguenot descent, born in New York, Dr. Uzal John- 
son, his surgeon, was a native of New Jersey. These colo- 
nial troops, Provincials as they were called, were probably 
as good as those of the British lines now in America, for 
many of the regular regiments had by this time been re- 
cruited in this country. Ferguson had paid great atten- 
tion to the organization and drill of these men. They were 
well trained, and he relied lai-gely upon them in consequence 
of their practised use of the bayonet. For such of his 
Tory troops as were without that weapon he had provided 
each with a long knife, made b}' the blacksmiths of the 
country and fitted into the muzzle of tlie rifle. Ferguson's 
own corps numbered about 100, and the Loyal militia about 
1000. The North Carolina Loj'alists were under Colonel 
Ambrose Mills, a brother-in-law of Colonel Fletchall, and 
numbered about 430 men. The South Carolina Loyalists 
about 320 ; it does not appear under whose command. It 
is supposed, however, that 200 North Carolina Loyalists 
under Colonel Moore had left the camp the daj' before on 
a scout or foraging expedition. 

In the confronting ranks there was, however, says 
Draper, a very different class of men. The Virginians, 
under Campbell, were a peculiar people, somewhat of the 
character of CromwelFs soldiery. Tliey were almost to a 
man Presbyterians. In their homes in Holston valley tliey 
were settled in pretty compact congregations ; tenacious of 
their i-eligious and civil liberties, as handed from father to 
son from their Scotch-Irish ancestors. Their preachei', 
Rev. Charles Cummins, was well fitted for the times, a 
man of piety and sterling patriotism, who constantly 
excited his people to make ever}^ needed sacrifice, and put 
forth every possible exertion in defence of the liberties of 
their country. They were a remarkable body of men, 
physically and mentally. Inured to frontier life, raised 



IN THE REVOLUTION 789 

inostl}- in Augusta and Rockbridge counties, Virginia, a 
frontier region in the Frencli-Indian war, they early settled 
on the Ilolston, and were accustomed from their childhood 
to border life and hardship. They were better educated 
than most of the frontier settlers, and had a more thorough 
understanding of the questions at issue between the colo- 
nies and their mother country. These men went forth to 
strike their country's foes, as did. the patriarchs of old, 
feeling assured that the God of battle was with them, and 
tliat lie would surely ci'own their efforts with success. 
Lacey's men, mostly from the present York and Chester 
counties in South Carolina, were of the same character, 
Scotch-Irish Presb3-terians, and so were some of those under 
Shelby, Sevier, Cleveland, Williams, Winston, and McDow- 
ell ; but many of these, especially those from Nolachucky, 
Watauga, and Lower Holston, who had not very long 
settled on the frontier, were more of a mixed race, some- 
what rough, but brave, fearless, and full of adventure. 

When the Whig patriots came near the mountain they 
halted, dismounted, fastened their loose baggage to their 
saddles, tied their horses and left them under charge of a 
few men detailed for the purpose, and then prepared for 
an immediate attack. The force was divided into four 
columns. The first, or as Shelby designated it, the right 
centre,^ was composed of the Virginians under Campbell, 
200 men. The second, or left centre, of Shelby's regiment, 
120. The third, or right flank column, of Sevier's regi- 
ment, 120, McDowell's 90. and Winston's 60, — in all 270, 
under Colonel Sevier. The fourth, or left flank column, 
of Cleveland's regiment, 120, Williams's 00, Graham's and 
Ilambright's 50, and Lacey's and Hill's South Carolinians 
100, — in all 310, under Colonel Cleveland. The whole 
party was thus composed of 200 Virginians, 510 Nortli 
> Kiiufs MiiHHtnin and its //crocs (Draper), AppeiKlix. 54.3. 



790 HISTOIIY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Carolinians, and 100 South Carolinians. The small 
party of Georgians present served with "Williams. The 
army was divided into two wings. The right centre and 
right flank columns, numbering together 470, were under 
the immediate command of Colonel Campbell. The left 
centre and left flank, numbering 440, were under the direc- 
tion of Colonel Cleveland. The two wings were thus very 
nearly equal in strength. The plan of battle was that the 
two wings should approach upon opposite sides of the 
mountain and thus encompass the enemy. Cleveland's 
and Sevier's columns united at the northeast end of the 
ridge, Campbell's and Shelby's closing together at the 
southwest. 

Before taking up the line of march, Campbell and the 
leading officers earnestly appealed to their soldiers, to the 
highest instincts of their natures, by all that was patriotic 
and noble among men, to fight like heroes, and give not an 
inch of ground save only from the sheeiest necessity, and 
then only to retrace and recover their lost ground at the ear- 
liest possible moment. Campbell personally visited all the 
corps and said to Cleveland's men, as he did to all, that if 
any of them, men or officers, were afraid, he advised them 
to quit the ranks and go home ; that he wished no man to 
engage in the action who could not fight ; that as for him- 
self, he was determined to fight the enemy a week, if need 
be, to gain the victory. Colonel Campbell also gave the 
necessary orders to all the principal officers, and repeated 
them so as to be heard by a large portion of the line, and 
then placed himself at the head of his own regiment, as 
the other officers did at the head of their respective com- 
mands. Many of tlie men threw aside their hats, tying 
handkerchiefs around their heads so as to be less likely 
to be retarded by limbs and bushes when dashing up the 
mountain. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 791 

About three o'clock in the afternoon the columns ad- 
vanced. Botli wings were somewhat longer in reaching 
their designated places than had been expected. In mov- 
ing to the attack, Winston's party was thrown into con- 
fusion. Some men riding up directed them to dismount 
from their horses and march up the hill. This was imme- 
diately done, but before they had advanced two hundred 
paces they were again hailed, disabused of their eiror, and 
directed to remount their horses and push on, as King's 
Mountain was yet some distance away. They ran down 
the declivity with great precipitation without a guide ; but 
fortunately they regained the line at the very point of 
tlieir proper destination. As the two wings came to the 
foot of tlie mountain, that under Colonel Campbell turned 
to tlie light and made its way around the southeastern 
side, while Cleveland's turned to the left and occupied the 
northwestern side. 

There has been some difference between the authorities 
as to the actual commencement of the action. The tradi- 
tion has always been, says Dr. Moore in his Life of Lacey^ 
that inasmuch as Colonel Lacey rode the express, Colonel 
Cam[)bcll gave him the honor of commencing the battle;^ 
and Kamsay intimates that it was begun by Cleveland; but 
the official report made by Campbell, Shelb3% and Cleveland 
themselves states distinctly that " Colonel Shelbj^'s and 
Colonel Campbell's regiments began the attack, and kept 
up a tire on the enemy while the right and left wings were 
advancing to surround them, which was done in about 
live minutes, and the fire became general all around.'"'^ 
A picket of the enemy, whose position had been ascer- 
tained, was surprised and secured by a party of Shelby's 

' The Lifp of General Edward Lncey, 17, 18. 

* Kiu(fs Jlottntain und its Iliroes (Draper), Appendix, 523 ; Ramsay's 
Bev. of So. Ca., vol. II, 18-'. 



792 HISTUKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

men without firing a gun or giving the least ahirm. From 
the nature of the ground and thick intervening foliage of 
the trees, the Whigs were not discovered by Ferguson till 
within a quarter of a mile, when his drums beat to arms, 
and his shrill whistle, with which he was wont to sunnnon 
his men to battle and inspire them with his own courage, 
was heard ever3"\vhere over the mountain. 

The right and left wings had been cautioned that the 
action was not to be commenced until the centre columns 
were ready for the attack. These were to give the signal 
by raising a frontier war-whoop, after the manner of the 
Indians, and then to rush forward to the attack. Upon 
hearing the battle-shout and the reports of the rifles, tlie 
right and left wings were to join in the affray. The first 
firing was made by the enemy upon Slielby's column before 
they were in position to engage in the action. It was gall- 
ing in its effect, and not a little annoying to the moun- 
taineers, some of whom in their impatience complained 
that it would never do to be shot down without returning 
the fire ; but Slielby restrained them. " Press on to your 
places," he said, " and then your fire will not be lost." 

But before Shelby's men could gain their position, 
Colonel Campbell had thrown off liis coat ; and, while 
leading his men to the attack, he exclaimed at the top 
of his voice, " Here they are, my brave boys ; shout like 
H — ?, and fight like devils!'^ The woods immediately 
resounded with the shouts of the line, in which they were 
heartily joined, first by Shelby's corps, and then the cry was 
caught up and ran along the two wings. Draper relates 
that when Captain de Peyster heard these almost deafen- 
ing yells, — the same he too well remembered hearing from 
Shelby at Musgrove's Mills, — he remarked to Ferguson, 
" These things are ominous ; these are the d — d yelling 
boys ! " Ferguson was himself dismayed when he heard 
them. 



rX THE REVOLUTION 793 

Cleveland and his men, while passing around to the left 
of the mountain, were somewhat retarded by a low piece of 
ground there saturated with water from the recent rain ; 
bnt clearing this, and discovering an advance picket of 
tlie enemy, he made the address to his men which is always 
given when the story of King's Mountain is told, and 
whii'h the schoolboys fifty years ago were taught to re- 
peat as a part of their exercises. Draper justly observes 
that this speech, we may conclude, was not delivered in a 
very formal manner, but most likely by piecemeal, as he 
rode along the lines. 

" My brave fellows, we liave beat the Tories, and we can beat 
tliein. Tliey are all cowards. If they had the spirit of men, they 
would join with their fellow-citizens in supporting the independence 
of their country. \\'hen engaged you are not to wait for the word of 
command from mo. I will show you by my exan)ple how to fight. 
I can undertake no more. Every man must consider himself as an 
officer, and act from his own judgment. Fire as quick as you can. 
When you can do no better, get behind the trees or retreat; but I beg 
you not to run quite off. If we are repulsed, let us make a point to 
return and renew the fight. Perhaps we may have better luck in the 
second attempt than in the first. If any of you are afraid, such have 
leave to retire, and they are requested immediately to take them- 
selves oft." ^ 

The distance that Cleveland's men had to march, with 
the swampy nature of their route, delayed them some ten 
minutes in reaching the place assigned them. But they 
nobly made amends for their delay by their heroic con- 
duct in the action. The picket that they attacked soon 
gave way, and were rapidly pursued up the mountain. 

The tradition that Lacey was allowed the honor of be- 
ginning tlie battle, judging from the othcial report. Draper 

1 Ramsay's lievoJution of So. Co., vol. II, 182-183; Kitu/s Mountain 
and Us Ih'rue» (Draper), 248, 249. 



794 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

holds to be without substantial foundation. But it must 
be observed that the report Avas not signed by Lacey, 
though he represented a distinct corps from a different 
State, and was therefore entitled to have been consulted 
in regard to it, or to have made his own. It is remarkable, 
too, that this official report does not even mention Lacey 
at all, but erroneously respresents Williams as command- 
ing the four hundred men who joined the authors of it on 
the 6th of October, while it is beyond question that Will- 
iams was repudiated by the South Carolinians and com- 
manded only sixty men recruited in North Carolina. But 
whether Lacey actually commenced the action or not, it is 
clear that he was among the first engaged. He approached 
the enemy from the northwestern and most level side of 
the mountain, and thus drew upon him the attention 
of the foe, while Cleveland and the other leaders were 
marching to their respective places to complete the encir- 
cling of Feiguson's army. 

The part of the mountain where Campbell's men as- 
cended to attack was rough and craggy, the most difficult of 
ascent of any part of the ridge ; but these resolute moun- 
taineers permitted no obstacle to pi-event their advance, 
creeping up the acclivity little by little, from tree to tree, 
till they were nearly at the top. The Virginians thus secur- 
ing the summit of the hill, the battle became general. None 
of the Whigs were longer under the restraint of military dis- 
cipline ; some were on horseback, some were on foot, some 
behind trees, others exposed ; but all were animated with 
enthusiasm. The Virginians were the first against whom 
Ferguson ordered a charge of the bayonets by his Rangers 
and a part of his Loyalists. Some of them obstinately 
stood their ground till a few were thrust through the 
body; but without bayonets themselves, with only their 
rifles to withstand sucli a charge, tlie Virginians broke 



IN THE UEVOLUTION 795 

and fled down the niountaiii;» Xliey were apon rallied, 
however, by their gallant commander and some of his 
more active oflicers, and by a constant and well-directed 
fire of their rifles they in turn drove back Ferguson's men, 
and again reached the summit of the mountain. The 
mountain was covered with flame and smoke, and seemed 
to thunder. The shouts of the mountaineers, the noise 
of hundreds of rifles and muskets, the loud commands and 
encouraging words of the officers, with ever}^ now and tlien 
the shrill screech of Ferguson's silver whistle high above 
the din and confusion of the battle, intermingled with the 
groans of the wounded in every part of the line, is de- 
scribed as combining to convey the idea of another pande- 
monium. 

While Ferguson's Rangers were pushing back Camp- 
bell's men with the bayonet, Shelby was pressing Fergu- 
son's Loyalists on the opposite side and southwestern end 
of the mountain, so that the Rangers were now called 
upon to turn their attention to this body of the moun- 
taineei-s. Ferguson soon found that he had not so much 
the advantage of the position as he had anticipated. The 
summit of the mountain was bare of timber, exposing his 
men to the fire of the backwoods riflemen, who, as they 
l)ressed up the ridge, availed themselves of the trees on its 
sides, which afl'orded them protection while breaking his 
lanks and retarding his lines in the charge of the bayo- 
net. Sumter's South Carolinians under Lacey and Hill — 
the veterans of Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock, Camden 
and Fishing Creek — pressed forward to share in the con- 
test. At the very firet fire Lacey 's horse was shot from 
under him. Nor were the other columns idle. IMajor 
Chronicle and Major IIaml)right led their little bands up 
till- norllieast end of the mountain, wlicie the ascent was 
more abrupt than elsewhere — save where Campbell's men 



796 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

made their attack. As they reached the base of the ridge 
and began the ascent, Chronicle was killed ; but the small 
party under Hambright, with a disproportionate number 
of officers for its strength, fought on with determined hero- 
ism. Before they reached the crest of the mountain De 
Peyster charged them with the bayonet. Sevier's column 
at length gained the summit of the hill, driving the 
enemy's left flank upon his centre. But they were not 
subjected to any bayonet charge save a portion of the left, 
Avho hastened to the support of Campbell's regiment 
when hard pressed, and became intermingled with them. 

Williams, offended at his treatment and the refusal of 
the other officers to recognize his right to command, at first 
refused to take part in the battle ; but he could not after 
all restrain himself, or resist so glorious an opportunity to 
do his country service, for he was a patriot, notwithstand- 
ing that his ambition had led him to improper courses to 
attain distinction. Wheeling chivalrously into line on the 
left of Shelby, and exclaiming to his followers, " Come on, 
my boys — the old Avagoner never yet backed out," he 
rushed into the thickest of the figrht. Though his num- 
bers were few, he had several good and experienced partisan 
officers with him. Brandon, Hammond, Hayes, Roebuck^ 
and Dillard — all, but Roebuck, like him, from Ninety- 
Six District — had been engaged in the campaigns in the 
Low Country. These officers, by their intrepid example, 
did excellent work with their small band recruited in North 
Carolina. Major Samuel Ilannnond, with a small squad 
of brave followers, broke through the British lines; and 
when the enemy attempted to intercept them, facing about, 
they cut their way back by dint of the most heroic efforts. 

The last time Campbell and Shelby's men were di'iven 
down the declivity it was rumored that Tarleton with his 
horse had come, and they were somewhat confirmed in this 



IN THE IIEVOLUTION 707 

belief by the deceptive shouting on the part of the enemy. 
This for the moment had a dispiriting effect upon the 
mountaineei-s. But Colonel Sevier and other oflficers rode 
along the line, calling upon the men to halt, and assuring 
them that Tarleton was not there, and encouraging them 
to resist even though he should come. The rillemen, thus 
reassured, turned and pressed upon the enemy with the 
utmost firmness and determination. And thus the battle 
waged with alteinate adsanccs and repulses, the columns 
of C'ani[)bell and Shelby having been two or three times 
driven down the mountain at the point of the bayonet, the 
last one almost a rout, in which some of them weie trans- 
fixed with the bayonet while others fell headlong over the 
cliff. Three times, says Mills, did the Britons charge 
with bayonet down the hill ; as often did the Americans 
retreat; and the moment the Britons turned their backs, 
the Americans shot from behind every tree, and every 
rock, and laid them prostrate. 

But at length the two w^ingfs of the mountaineers so 
pressed the enemy on both sides that Ferguson's men had 
ample eni[)loyment all around the eminence without being 
able to repair to each other's relief. The Provincial dang- 
ers and the Loyalists, though led by the brave De Peyster, 
began to grow weary and discouraged, steadily decreas- 
ing in numbers and making no permanent impression upon 
their tireless opponents. From the southwestern portion 
of the ridge the Pangers and Tories began to give way, and 
were doggedly driven by Campbell's, Shelby's, and Sevier's 
men, and perhaps others intermingled with them. 

Ferguson, by this time, had been wounded in the hand, 
but he was still in the heat of the battle, and with charac- 
teristic coolness and daring he ordered De Peyster to reen- 
force a position al)out one bundled yai'ds distant; but 
before they reached it they were thinned too much by the 



798 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Whig rifles to render any effectual support. He then 
ordered his cavalry to mount, with the intention of making 
a desperate onset at their head. But these only presented 
a better mark for the rifle, and fell as fast as they could 
mount their horses. lie rode from end to end of his line, 
encouraging his men to prolong the conflict, and with his 
silver whistle in his wounded hand, with desperate courage 
he passed from one exposed point to another of equal 
danger. But the Whigs were gradually compressing his 
men, and the Tories began to show signs of yielding. 
They raised a flag in token of surrender. Ferguson rode 
up and cut it down. A second flag Avas raised at the other 
end of the line. He rode tliere, too, and cut it down with 
his sword. Captain de Peyster, his second in command, 
convinced from the first of the utter futility of resistance 
upon the position at King's Mountain selected by Ferguson, 
as soon as he became satisfied that Ferguson would not 
abandon it and attempt to make his way to the relief 
for which he had sent to Cornwallis, had the courage to 
advise a surrender ; but Ferguson's proud spirit could not 
deign to give up to raw and undisciplined militia. When 
the second flag was cut down De Peyster renewed his 
advice, but Fei'guson declared that he would never sur- 
render to such a d — d set of banditti as the mountain 
men. At length, satisfied that all was lost and firmly 
resolving not to fall into the hands of the despised Back- 
Avater men, Ferguson Avith a fcAV chosen friends made a 
desperate attempt to break through the Whig lines on the 
southeastern side of the mountain and escape. With his 
SAVord in his left hand, he made a bold dash for freedom, 
cutting and slashing until lie broke it. Colonel Vesey 
Husbands, a North Carolina Lo3'alist, and Major Plummer 
of South Carolina joined Ferguson and charged on a part 
of the line they thought Avas vulnerable. They all fell 
and perished in the effort. 



IK Tin-: REVOLUTION 799 

Captain de Peyster, who had succeeded Ferguson in 
connnaiid, perceiving tliat further struggle was in vain, 
raised the white flag and asked for quarter. A general 
cessation of the American fire followed ; but this cessation 
was not com[)lete. Ramsey states that "some of the 
young men did not understand the meaning of the white 
ilaor, others who did knew that other flags had been raised 
before, and were quickly taken down ; and that Shelby 
called out to them to throw down their guns, as all would 
understand that as a suirender." ^ Mills states that " few 
of the Americans understood the signal, and the few that 
did chose not to know what it meant, so that even after 
submission the slaughter continued until the Americans 
were weary of killing." ^ And Draper adds " that this is 
a sad confession ; but impartial truth demands that the 
record be faithful, though in this case there is reason 
to believe that Mills's statement is somewhat exagger- 
ated." ^ It was, indeed, a most deplorable condition, 
into which the warfare in South Carolina had degenerated. 
From its very nature civil war is more terrible than tliat 
between foreign nations. The question of rightful sover- 
eignty, in the contending governments, necessarily involves 
the question of treason. The foreign invader, when taken 
prisoner, is asked no question as to his loyalty. He is an 
enemy — but an enemy with well-defined rights under the 
laws of nations. But the person taken in a civil war with 
arms in his hands, has at once to meet the question of his 
civil status, and to answer upon a charge for treason. 
True, modern humanity now comes in and demands that 
when armies are recognized as distinct from mol)s, that the 
rules of civilized warfare shall be observed, and prisoners 

> Uainsey's Annals of Tennessee, 238, 239. 

■■' Mills's St'itistirs of So. Co., 779. 

' Kitig's Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 282. 



800 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Avlio surrender be entitled to some protection. But this 
philanthropic sentiment had little sway during the Revo- 
lution. The conduct of Sir Henry Clinton and Lord 
Cornwallis had greatly aggravated the inevitable condi- 
tion of tlie strife. Sir Henry's abrogation of the paroles 
given by the Whigs, and demand for personal service in 
the Royal cause of all the male inhabitants without regard 
to their political opinions or previous affiliation, followed 
up by Lord Cornwallis's order after the battle of Camden 
and the executions in pursuance of them there under his 
immediate eye, and the exile of the citizens from Charles- 
town against their understanding of the paroles accepted 
by them, all went to spread distrust and hatred, and to 
exasperate the Whigs. But beyond all this there was the 
burning desire, no doubt, on the part of the Virginians, 
whose fellow-countrymen had been slaughtered by Tarle- 
ton at the Waxhaws in May, and by the South Carolinians 
who had come from that scene of carnage, to revenge the 
cruel massacre. De Peyster might now call out to Colonel 
Campbell that " it was d — d unfair " ; but he should have 
recollected that Ensign Cruit was cut down hy Tarleton's 
men when advancing with a flag of surrender ; the plea 
for quarter had been then absolutely refused, and prostrate 
men had been bayoneted on the ground ; tliat Tarleton had 
on that occasion continued his carnage for full fifteen min- 
utes after the white flagf had been raised. And Tarleton 
was now expected every moment by both the British and 
the Americans. Would he recognize the surrender if he 
came ? Well might young Whigs now cry out as they did, 
" Give them Buford's play ! " ^ No mercy had been sliown 
to Sumter's men at Fishing Creek, and Major Candler and 
his Georgians were fresh from the scenes at Augusta. 
But though justified, not only by the law of vengeance, 
1 King's Mountain and its Heroes (Diaper), 282. 



IN TlIK ItKVOLUTION 801 

Ixit l)y the demand for a proper retaliation of the atrocities 
uliicli had been committed by the Britisli and their Tory 
allii's, and as a warning to them for the future, to the 
honor of the Whig leaders on this occasion the historian 
can record with satisfaction that the latter were active 
in their efforts to put a stop to the slaughter, and this 
though in fact the enemy had not actually laid down 
their arms. While the subdued Tories were everywhere 
frying "Quarter! quarter!" "D — n you," exclaimed 
Shelby, "if you want quarter, throw down your arms!" 
Saying this, he rushed his horse within fifteen paces of 
their line, commanding them to lay down their arms, and 
they should have quarter. The firing was at length 
stopped. The enemy at this time had been driven into a 
group of sixty yards in length and less than forty in width, 
around which the Wliigs closed up, forming one continu- 
ous circle, which was then doubled and finally became four 
deep. Colonel Campbell now pioposed to his troops three 
huzzas for Liberty^ which were given in hearty acclaim, mak- 
ing the woods ring and the hills resound with their shouts 
of victory. 

The action was begun, fought, and ended within an 
hour.i Hut more blood was yet to be shed. The Whig 
loaders had just stopped the firing when a small party of 
the Loyal militia returning from foraging, unacquainted 
with the surrender, fired on the Whigs. Atfirst it seemed 
that the prisoners were only threatened with death if the 
firing should be rei)eated ; but it happened that Colonel 
Williams, wlio was riding up at the time, was struck and 
mortally wounch-d, either by the foraging party of Loyalists 
or l)y some of tlie prisoners. 

Upon this. Colonel Campbell, who was near at hand, fear- 
ing that the firing from an outside party might be the pre- 
1 See authoritie.s, Kiiufs Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 296. 

VOL. III. — 3f 



802 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

cursor of Tiirleton's expected relief, and that by the sur- 
rendered Tories a bold attempt to escape might h^ made 
while the Whigs were measurably off their guard, to 
inflict summary punishment and at once quell the in- 
tended mutiny, ordered the men near liim — the men of 
Williams's and Brandon's commands — to (ire. The order 
was quickly obeyed, and it is said that one hundred more 
of the invprisoned enemy were killed or wounded. But 
the probabilities are, says Draper, that those who fired and 
those who suffered from it were not very numerous. It 
was, however, says the same author, a sad affair, and in 
the confusion of the moment its orifjin and its immediate 
effects were probably little understood by either pait}^ 
and doubtless Colonel Campbell himself deeply regretted 
the order he had given. 

The arms were now taken from the prisoners, they 
were marched to another place, and a strong guard 
placed around them. The surviving officers surrendered 
their swords. Ferguson's sword was picked up from the 
ground where it had fallen when he w^as killed. His 
conduct had been most heroic throughout the whole 
battle. He had two horses killed under him ; he liim- 
self received a number of wounds, any one of which was 
mortal, and dropping from his horse, expired while his 
foot yet hung in the stirrup. He was undoubtedly an 
able as well as a brave commander, yet in this campaign 
he was governed by two infatuations, strange under the 
circumstances. The first was the preeminent importance 
he attached to the interception of Colonel Clarke's party, 
allowing himself to subordinate his cooperation with the 
movements of the main British army to the capture of 
a small party of fugitives. The second was his selection 
of King's Mountain as his battle-ground, when he found 
the Back-water men and Sumter's men Gratherincf aorainst 



IN THE REVOLUTION 803 

liim — a position wliieh lias been condemned by every mili- 
tary critic who has examined it. 

The exact strength of the British army at King's Moun- 
tain, says Draper, after a very careful examination of all 
the authorities, can only be approximately determined, 
l-'erguson's Rangers may be set down at 100, though they 
may have somewhat exceeded that figure. The general 
estimate is in lound numbers 1000 militia of Loyalists, 
which would make 1100, or 1125 according to the Ameri- 
can official i-eport based on the provisions returns of that 
day. But it is believed that 200 of these were absent on 
a foraging expedition, a part of whom returning killed 
Colonel Williams, and caused the slaughter of their friends. 
But iew, if any, of these escaped. It seems quite certain 
that about GOO men were taken away as prisoners, which 
would leave the killed and those too badly wounded to be 
moved probably something over 300. Allaire, however, 
who was of Ferguson's corps and was one of the prisoners, 
in his Diary states that " we had 18 men killed on the 
spot ; Captain Ryerson and 32 privates wounded of Major 
Ferguson's detachment; Lieutenant McGinnis of Allen's 
regiment of Skinner's brigade killed. Taken prisoners 
2 captains, 4 lieutenants, 3 ensigns, and 1 sui-geon, and 
54 sergeants rank and file, including the mounted men 
under the command of Lieutenant Ta3'lor. Of the militia 
100 were killed, nicluding officers, wounded 90, taken pris- 
oners about 000. Our baggage all taken, of course." 
This statement, which is piobably the most correct, makes 
the whole British loss, killed 110, wounded 123, and pris- 
oners 664, — in all 906. ^ The American loss was officially 
reported, killed 28, wounded 62.^ 

* lunges Mountain and its Jleroes (Draper), Allaire's Diary, Appen- 
dix, 510. 

« Ibid., 624. 



804 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Thus ended the battle of Kini^'s Mountain, which turned 
the tide of war in the Southern States. Rumors were still 
rife that Tarleton with his dreaded dragoons was coming 
on to the rescue ; so early on Sunday morning, the 8th, the 
victors, alive to the danger, were making hurried prepara- 
tions to get away with their prisoners and spoils. Seven- 
teen basfsaofe waofons had fallen into their hands ; but they 
could not encumber themselves with these on the rough 
and narrow roads they had to travel, so they were drawn 
by the men across the campfires and burned. Litters 
were made by fastening two long poles on either side of 
two horses at tandem, with a space of six or eight feet 
between them, stretching tent cloths or blankets between 
the poles on which to lay a wounded officer or soldier. 
Fifteen hundred stands of arms were captured. Tlie flints 
having been taken from these, the prisoners were required 
to carry them. These preparations consumed the morn- 
ing, so that it was ten o'clock before the march was taken 
up. Campbell, Shelby, Cleveland, Sevier, Hammond, and 
Brandon, with the Virginians and North Carolinians guard- 
ing the prisoners, left for the mountains in North Caro- 
lina.i Lacey and Hill, who still commanded Sumter's 
brigade, remained in the neighborhood and pitched their 
camps on Bullock's Creek, within six or seven miles of 
the battle-ground, quietly awaiting the approach of Tarle- 
ton, whom they had met before and were not afraid to 
meet again. ^ 

General Washington proclaimed the result of the battle 
of King's Mountain in General Orders to the army as an 
important victory gained, and "a proof of the spirit and 
resources of the country," while Congress expressed in its 
resolves "a high sense of the spirited and military conduct 

1 Kiiufs Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 320. 

2 Moore's Life of Echcanl Lacey, 18, 19. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 805 

of Colonel Campbell, and the officers and privates of the 
militia nnder his connnand, displayed in the action of 
October the Tth, in which a complete victory was ob- 
tained." ^ 

A week after the battle, while the Virginians and North 
Carolinians were encamped at Bickerstaff's, some nine 
miles northeast of the present town of Rutherfordton, in 
North Carolina, complaint was made to Colonel Camp- 
bell that there were among the prisonei-s a number who 
were robbers, house burners, parole breakers, and assas- 
sins. ^ Upon this a mongrel court, partly civil and partly 
military, was organized, and with little pretence of trial, 
twelve of the prisoners were condemned to death. Nine 
were executed, one escaped, the other two were not 
liancrtMl. A mono- those who were hanged was Colonel 
Ambrose Mills, who had commanded the North Carolina 
Tories in the battle."^ Some, at least, of these no doubt 
justly met their punishment. But revenge for the British 
execution of Cusack, and of those at Camden and Augusta, 
left little play for mercy or even exact justice in their 
trial. 

1 King's Mountain and its Heroes (Draper), 374. 

2 Diaper {King's Mountain and its Heroes, 330) states that the com- 
plaint was made by " the officers of the two Carolinas." But Lacey and 
Hill had remained in South Carolina. Williams was dead, and Colonel 
Hraiidon. wlio was then connected with ihe party of North Carolinians 
raised by Williams, appears to have been the only ofticer from South 
Carolina present, and he was without commission from that State. 

^ Ibid., 341. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

1780 

While Lord Corn wallis lay at Charlotte, Generals Sum- 
ner and Davidson with a considerable body of North Caro- 
lina militia took post in the vicinity and watched and an- 
noyed his detachments. Colonel Davie, whose corps was 
greatly increased by stanch volunteers from the lower coun- 
tr}^ Avas particularly successful in intercepting their forag- 
ing parties and convoys. Riflemen frequently penetrated 
near the British camp, and from behind trees took care to 
make sure of their aim, so that the late conquerors found 
their situation very uneasy, exposed as they were to unseen 
danger if they attempted to make an excursion of only a 
few hundred yards from the encampment.^ Corn wallis 
was about to send Colonel Webster's brigade to attack 
Sumner's militia and relieve himself from tlie annoyance, 
when confused reports of Ferguson's miscarriage began to 
reach the British camp.^ His lordship had been uneasy 
about Ferguson's movements. He had not Ferguson's 
confidence in his trained militia, declaring that Ferguson's 
own experience, as well as that of every other officer, was 
totally against his trust in them. Tiiis anxiety had in- 
creased as time liad passed witliout intelligence from him. 
But Tarleton, it seems, did not share his lordship's fears, 
or was indifferent to Ferguson's fate. Cornwallis was 

1 Ramsay's lievoluHon of So. Ca., vol. II, 186. 

2 Tarleton's Campaiijus, 105. 

806 



IN THE KKVOLUTION 807 

desirous that Tarleton should go to look up Ferguson and 
aid him if need be ; but Tarleton pleaded weakness from 
the effects of his fever, and refused to make the attempt, 
though his lordship used the most earnest entreaties. ^ 
Collins and Quinn, who had been sent by Ferguson from 
Tate's on the 30th of September to inform Cornwallis of 
the approach of tiie Back-water men, it will be remembered, 
had been delayed and did not reach him until the 7th of 
October, the day of the battle. But even after they 
arrived with Ferguson's appeal for aid, strange to say, 
Tarleton could not be induced to move until the lOtli, 
when he was ordered by his lordship to march to Fer- 
guson's assistance with the light infantry, the British 
Legion, and a three-pounder ; no certain intelligence hav- 
ing arrived of his defeat, but the confidence with Avhich it 
was asserted by tlie Americans giving weight to the report. 
Tarleton accordingly marched to a ford below the forks 
of the Catawba some fifteen or twenty miles, where he 
received certain information of the melanchol}' fate of his 
brother officer. This mortifying intelligence, he says, was 
forwarded to Charlotte, and the light troops crossed the 
river to give protection to the fugitives and to attend the 
operations of the enemy .^ When he crossed the Catawba 

' Coniwallis's correspondence, quoted by Draper, Kiiu/'s Mountain 
and its lliroea. p. ">(\\. Lord Cornwallis in a letter to the Bishop of 
Litchfield, dated Calcutta, Dec. I'J, 1787, resenting the blame which 
Tarleton lays upon him in his Cnmpainns, says with reference to that 
work: "Tarleton's is a most malicious and false attack; he knew and 
approved the reasons for several of the measures which he now blames. 
My not sending relief to Colonel Ferguson, although he was positively 
ordered to retire, was entirely owing to Tarleton himself ; he pleaded 
weakness from the remains of a fever, and refused to make the attempt, 
although I used the most earnest entreaties. I mention this as a proof, 
among.st many others, of his candour," — Clinton-CornwaUis Controversy, 
vol. I, xvii. 

* Tarleton's Campaigns, 166-166. 



808 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

he learned that the mountaineers had all gone, and that 
Lacey and Hill only remained in the neighborhood. Tliese 
brave men were, however, boldly and triumphantly stand- 
ing their ground, defying his Legion and himself. Tarle- 
ton manoeuvred about their camp two or three days without 
making an attack. ^ He says that he was adopting meas- 
ures to dislodge them when expresses from the Royal army 
prevented his design by requiring his instant return to the 
Catawba. 2 

Soon after Tarleton had gone in quest of Ferguson, 
Cornwallis received positive information of the latter's 
defeat and destruction ; and his lordship on the 14th of 
October, that is, as soon as his army could be put in 
motion, began a most precipitate retreat. Tarleton com- 
plains that he had left his baggage with the main army 
when he was sent on the expedition to find Ferguson, and 
that in his absence it was committed to the worst wagons 
and lost. Indeed, owing to the bad condition of the road, 
the ignorance of the guides, the darkness of the night, or 
some other unknown cause, the British rear-guard de- 
stroyed or left behind near twenty wagons loaded with 
supplies for the army, a printing-press, and other stores. 

One McAffert}^ a merchant, a Whig at heart, who had 
remained in Charlotte to save his property, was required 
to act as guide. He misled the British, and pretending 
to have lost his way, and riding aside to find it, escaped. ^ 
Biding all night, he reached Davie's camp and informed 
him of Cornwallis's retreat. Davie at once started in 
pursuit, but could iind no opportunity to attack. The 
mud in the Black Jack country in this section, as it is 

^ Moore's Life of Edward Lacey, 19. 
2 Tarletori's Campaigns, 100-107. 

8 No. Ca. in 17S0-S1 (Schenck), 181 ; Hanger's Eeply to McKenzie'a 
Strictures on TarJeton''s Campaigns, 62. 



IN THE KKVOLUTIOX 809 

known, especially in that of the Waxhaws, is pro- 
verbial for its sticky quality and the depth of its soft- 
ness in rainy weather. It was tlien and is now a terror 
to all travellers. The rainy season had begun, and the 
roads were almost impassable.^ It so happened, to add to 
the dilliculties of the situation, that Lord Cornwallis was 
taken ill with a dangerous fever just as the retreat began. 
In consequence of his illness, the want of forage and 
provisions, and the mire in which tlie army was stuck, the 
Royal forces remained two days in the Catawba Indian 
settlement, in what is now Lancaster Count}', South Caro- 
lina, just below the State line. During the illness of Corn- 
wallis, Lord Rawdon assumed command. By the time 
the army reached Sugar Creek, a small branch of the 
Catawba which here divides Lancaster from York County, 
the wagon and artillery horses were already exhausted 
with fatigue. The creek was very rapid, its banks nearly 
perpendicular, and the soil, being clay, as slippery as ice. 
In this emergency the horses were taken out of some of 
the wagons, and the Loyal militia, harnessed in their stead, 
drew the wagons through the creek. " We are sorry to 
say," adds Steadman, " that in return for these exertions 
the militia were maltreated by abusive language, and even 
beaten by some officers in the quartermaster general's 
department. In consequence of this ill usage, several of 
them left the army the next morning, forever chasing to 
run the risque of meeting the resentment of their enemies 
rather than submit to the derision and abuse of those to 
whom tlu'V looked up as friends.'"'-^ 

At length the army reached the Catawba, and crossed 
from what is now Lancaster into Chester County at Lands- 
ford, and marching westwardly crossed Fishing Creek ; 

» iVb. Ca. in 17S0-S1 (Schenck), 181. 
* Steadmaii's ^l(yi. War, vol. II, 225. 



810 HISTUUV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

then crossing Rocky Creek at a point two or three miles 
from the present town of Chester, it turned its direction 
south, taking the road to Winnsboro, where it arrived on 
the 29th of October. In the retreat the King's troops are 
described as suffering much and encountering the greatest 
difficulties ; the men had no tents ; it rained for several 
days without intermission ; the roads were over their shoes 
in water and mud. Sometimes the army had beef and no 
bread, at other times bread and no beef. For five da3^s it 
was supported upon Indian corn, which was collected as 
it stood in the field, five ears of which were the allowance 
for two soldiers for twenty-four hours. The}^ were to 
cook it as they could, which was generally done by parch- 
ing it before the hre. The water the army drank was 
frequently as thick as puddle, and for many days they 
were without rum. Few armies, says Steadman, encoun- 
tered greater difficulties ; but the soldiers bore them with 
great patience and without a murmur, knowing as they 
did that even Lords Cornwallis and Rawdon's fare was 
not better than their own.i Tarleton, on the other hand, 
states that the King's troops moved through a plentiful 
country in the neighborhood of Fishing Creek, whilst 
measures were employed to find out the most convenient 
position on the frontier, and that several movements were 
made before a regular camp was established. ^ It is very 
probable that both accounts are respect ivel}' correct. 
Tarleton with his cavalry foraging at will, regardless of 
the condition of the roads and not circumscribed in his 
movements by them, found no difficulty in collecting all 
the supplies he wished. Rut at tlie worst, as described by 
Steadman, the Rritish on this retreat endured only tlie 
ordinary fare of the Whigs, who had no stores or sup- 

1 Steadman's Am. War, vol. II, 226, 227. 

2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 109. 



IN THK KEVOLUTION" 811 

plies from which to draw. Before the end of October, 
Eiirl Connvallis recovered from his indisposition, and about 
the siune period a proper place of encampment was found. 
After a minute inquiry and examination, says Tarleton, 
Winnsboro presented the most numerous advantages for a 
regular camp. Its spacious plantations yielded a tolerable 
post ; its central situation between the Broad River and 
the Wateree afforded protection to Ninety-Six and Cam- 
den ; and its vicinity to the Dutch Forks and a rich coun- 
try in the rear promised abundant supplies of flour, forage, 
and cattle. As the army arrived on the ground, the sick 
were conveyed to tlie hos[)ital at Camden ; rum and other 
stores were drawn from that place, and communication 
was opened with Ninety-Six. 

As soon as the news of the victory near Camden arrived 
in New York, Sir Henry Clinton, the Commander-in-chief, 
in pursuance of the grand plan of carrying the war from 
South to North, embarked a considerable corps under the 
orders of Major General Leslie for the Chesapeake, to form 
a junction with Lord Cornwallis, who, it was not doubted, 
would now march triumphantly from Camden, and invade 
and pass tiirough North Carolina.^ The armies, meeting 
in Virginia, were to crush the rebellion in that State, and 
continuing northward were to proceed to the Chesapeake, 
ready to strike Washington in the rear, while Sir Henry 
assailed him in front. The plan of this campaign will be 

1 In a note to " Theniistocles's " lieply to Sir Henry Clinton''s Xarra- 
live, it is said : "The fact is, that Lord Cornwallis being second in com- 
mand had never arrogated to himself any privilege beyond his line 
of duty ; he had never offered a plan to Ministry, tho' he had often 
indeed hinted, with great deference to them and to Sir Henry, the 
expediency of carrying his Majesty's arms from South to North — an idea 
the Ministry had long conceivetl, and were pleased with his Lordship's 
coincidinij with them in." CliiUon-Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 144; 
Tarleton's Campaigns, 170. 



812 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

readily recugiiized as the prototype of that of Grant and 
Sherman, which brought about the destruction of Lee in 
the late war between the States.^ But the series of affairs, 
culminating in the destruction of Ferguson at King's 
Mountain, and the uprising under Marion in the Low 
Country, frustrated the grand scheme at this time. Gen- 
eral Leslie's instructions were to obey the mandates of 
Earl Cornwallis, and his movements were left to his lord- 
ship's judgment and absolute direction. ^ The plan for the 
winter's campaign having thus been disconcerted by the 
Americans, and necessarily abandoned by his lordship, 
instructions were sent to General Leslie first to proceed to 
Wilmington, and afterwards to Charlestown, where he 
ultimately arrived, and from thence joined Cornwallis, 
bringing his lordship a reenforcement now rendered neces- 
sary for his own safety. In the meanwhile attention was 
given to strengthening the British posts. Lieutenant 
Colonel TurnbuU commenced and completed redoubts at 
Camden. Works were constructed at Colonel Thomson's 
plantation in Orangeburgh, and at Nelson's Ferry, to secure 
the communication with Charlestown. At Ninety-Six, 
Lieutenant Colonel Cruger pressed forward the work, and 
defences at that place were put in a tenable condition. 
The troops at Georgetown were employed in the same 
manner, and were assisted by an armed naval force. Alter- 
ations were made in the fortification of Charlestown, 
the old works were nearly all thrown down, and great 
improvements were designed and begun under the direc- 
tion of Major Moncrief, the engineer. These latter, how- 
ever, fortunately for the Americans, were never completed, 
and the want of them was subsequently to give great 
cause of alai'ui to the British. 

1 Essays in Military Biofjraphy (by Charles Cornwallis Chcsney), 296. 

2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 170. 



IN THE Ith: VOLUTION 813 

It will be recollected that a few days before the battle 
of King's Mountain a delegation had been sent to Governor 
Rutledge at Hillsboro, remonstrating against Williams's 
comniission, and asking for the appointment of Sumter as 
Brigadier General, and that it had been agreed that Sum- 
ter, in the meanwhile, should retire, thus depriving him 
of the honor of taking [)art in the battle of King's Moun- 
tain, if not indeed commanding on that occasion. Gov- 
ernor Rutledge at once acceded to the representations of 
Colonel Winn and his associates, and on the 6th of Octo- 
ber issued a commission to Sumter as Brigadier General. 
With this commission he sent a long letter of instruc- 
tions to Sumter, putting him in command of all the militia 
of the State, directing him to embody all he could collect, 
and hold them in readiness to cooperate with the Continen- 
tal troops receiving orders for that purpose ; meantime 
Sumter was to employ the men he sliould assemble in such 
manner as would render the most eiticient' service to the 
State ; to liberate the people held prisoners by the enemy, 
many of whom the Governor believed would willingly 
join the Americans if released. He desired "that all the 
enemy's outposts to be broken up, and the several parties 
they have throughout the country cut off. In short, that 
they be harassed and attacked in every quarter of South 
Carolina and (Jeorgia where they can be to advantage, 
and with a reasonable prospect of success." " It will be 
exi)edient," wrote Governor Rutledge, " to secure every 
subject of the State who holds any ollice or commission 
under his Britannic Majesty, and not on any account what- 
soever to put any persons whom you take that owe alle- 
giance to the State of South Carolina, whatever their rank 
or condition may be, on parole ; but have them properly 
confined to be tried as soon as the courts of law can be 
held for so cai)ital an offence as taking part with the 



814 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

enemy." The pay of Sumter's men, both liorse and foot, 
was to be that allowed by the militia laws ; and he was 
especially charged to give the strictest orders and use the 
most efficient means to prevent the shameful practice of 
plundering. 

Governor Rutledge proceeded to direct : — 

"You will animate and encournge our friends by circulating 
throngliout South Carolina and Georgia the following particulars 
from me, viz. : That our affairs in Europe wear the most favoral)le 
aspect. That the campaign to the Northward has been an inactive 
one, General Clinton not having chosen to venture an action, but hav- 
ing kept his army in New Y'ork or places adjacent where neither our 
troops nor those of his most Chi'istian Majesty, which landed in Rhode 
Island (consisting of 5000), could get. That considerable aid will soon 
be sent to the relief of South Carolina and Georgia. I expect advices 
every day, and I will transmit them to you. That the court of France 
and Congress are determined to warrant the independence of all the 
United States of America, and not to listen to any terms of peace which 
may requii'e the surrender of any of these States." 

The Governor then went on to say that it was hoped 
that the good people of South Carolina and Georgia would, 
at a proper time, exert themselves in assisting to secure 
and in supporting their liberties. That it would be nec- 
essary from the peculiar circumstances of many of their 
friends that they should temporize for a while and not 
as yet take up arms, but that he would expect that they 
would stand 2)repared when called on to join the American 
forces with whom he hoped shortly to enter South Caro- 
lina and revenge the injuries it had experienced from both 
domestic and foreign enemies ; and that all who had been 
unfortunately compelled to do duty as militia would prove 
such compulsion, and evince their fidelity to the State in 
order to show that they had been so compelled. In which 
case, if they had not been guilty of atrocious crimes, and 



IN TIIH UKVOLUTION 815 

if tlR'ir conduct should wai rant it, tln^y might be admitted 
to the service oi" tlieir country.' 

(ieneral Sumter was tlius appointed to the command of 
all the State f(>rces in South Carolina, but having gone to 
llillsboro in the vain effort to obtain some necessaries for 
the troops, he did not reach Lacey and Hill and take com- 
iii;nnl until about the first of November. ^ Governor Rut- 
h'dgc also appointed Marion Urigadier Cleneral very soon 
after his appointment of Sumter. Henceforth, therefore, 
these ollicers were to conduct tlieir operations under 
regular commissions, and Jiot by the mere temporary 
ap[)ointmcnt of their followers. 

From his camp at Snow Island Marion now traversed 
the country between the Pee Dee and Santee without oppo- 
sition, and roused the whole of that section to revolt against 
the British. Cornwallis reported to Sir Henry Clinton that 
there was scarcely an inhabitant between the Santee and 
l*ee Dee that was not in arms against them, and that some 
of Marion's parties had even crossed the Santee and carried 
terror to the gates of Charlestown.^ Marion's position 
was thus a constant threat to the enemy's communications 
between Camden and the; town, and from it he retarded the 
8Upi)lies on the way to the British depots, and delayed the 
mai'ch of recruits which had been sent from New York to 
reiinforce Ccjrnwallis's army. So successful and persistent 
was Marion in this business, that Colonel Balfour found it 
necessary to send from Charlestown the Sixty-fourtli Regi- 
ment to Nelson's Ferry to protect the passage of the con- 
voys at that point.'* As soon, therefore, as Cornwallis had 
establi.slu'd himself at Winiisboro, he dispatched Tarleton 

' Sumter M!nS. in tlic possession of the Misses Browntield. 

2 Lifv of Lony (Moon-), 1» ; McCall's Ilist. o/Ga., vol. II, .3.38. 

8 Cliii(oit-Ci>nnr<tlliti Cotitr<)vrr»;/, vol. I. 1H8. 

♦ SteadiiKiirs .l)/i. War. \<<\. II, "JJT ; 'raiUton's Cainpaiijna, 171, 200. 



81G HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLIXA 

to beat lip !\Iarion's quarters and to clear Lis comniiinica- 
tions of this menace. Tarletou immediately crossed the 
Wateree and proceeded across the present counties of 
Kershaw and Sumter into what is now Clarendon County. 
He proceeded very cautiously, moving in a very compact 
body, lest the Americans should gain advantage over his 
patrols or detachments. Marion, whose numbers were, 
however, greatly exaggerated, as soon as he heard of 
Tarleton's expedition, moved at once to meet him. Stop- 
ping at night on the 10th of November in a wood near 
where Mr. Charles Richardson lived in Clarendon County, 
he was about to encamp ; but seeing a great light toAvard 
General Richardson's plantation, he concluded that the 
douses of the plantation were on fire, and that Tarleton 
was there. ^ 

Marion's supposition was correct. The light he saw was 
that of the burning of General Richardson's late residence 
by Tarleton. Upon the fall of Charlestown, General 
Richardson had given his parole, and upon its revocation 
by Sir Henry Clinton he had been amongst the foremost 
in expressing his indignation against the injustice and 
impolicy of the measure. Lord Cornwallis, learning of 
this, and fearing his influence against the Royal cause, 
offered him, it is said, in the presence of his family, the 
choice either to unite himself to the Royal standard, with 
any office or title he might wisli, or that he must submit to 
close conlinement. These tempting offers and intimidat- 
ing threats were equally disregarded. General Richardson 
promptly answered, with great decision, in such dignified 
terms as to elicit an involuntary expression of respect : 
" I have from the best convictions of ray mind embarked 
in a cause which I think righteous and just ; I have know- 
ingly and willingly staked my life, family, and property 
1 James's Life of Marion, 61, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 817 

all upon the issue. I am well prepared to suffer or tri- 
umph with it, and would rather die a thousand deaths 
lliau betray my country or deceive my friends." The 
alternative was promptly and rigorously enforced ; his 
health declined luulcr the ji)int influence of a sickly cli- 
mate and a loathsome prison-house ; the intirmities of old 
age (then in his seventy-sixth year) increased rapidly, 
and death was so evidently approaching that he was sent 
home in September, to linger out the last remaining hours 
of his life at his family residence. His remains had been 
interred but a short time before Tarleton occupied the 
establishment. He ordered the body of General Richard- 
son, it is said, to be taken up, and left it exposed until, 
by the entreaties of his family, they were permitted to 
reinter it. His pretext for this act of barbarity was that 
he might examine the features of a man of his decided 
character; but the true object was, it was believed, to 
ascertain if the family plate had not been buried in his 
grave. All the property of the estate which could not 
conveniently be taken for his Majesty's service or the 
gratification of his olhcers, was wantonly and sedulously 
destroyed. Provisions and houses were all burnt ; stock 
of all descriptions slaughtered or driven away ; negroes 
captured, until little or nothing was left but the dwelling 
liouse. Tarleton, having first been in the house and helped 
himself to the abundant good cheer it afforded, in person 
directed the torch to be applied to it, and the widow and 
three children of General Richardson were onl}- rescued 
from the flames by the humanity of one of his oihcers.^ 

While Marion was deliberating what was to be done, 
Colonel Richard Richardson, the eldest son of General 
I{ichardson, who had himself just escaped from confine- 
ment by the British on John's Island, and was just 
1 Johnson's Traditions., 101, 1(J2 ; James's Life of Marion, G3. 

VOL. III. — 3o 



818 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

recovering from the smallpox, came in and informed him 
that by the light of the fire he had been able to form a 
coi'rect estimate of the strength of Tarleton's command. 
From this information Marion ascertained that Tarleton's 
forces were at least double his own numbers, AA'ith two 
field-pieces. To add to Marion's consternation he at the 
same time discovered that one of his best guides had 
deserted to the enemy. Knowing that Tarleton now had 
a guide, and that he was in danger, he immediately re- 
treated, and crossing in the darkness the Woodyard, then 
a most difficult swamp, he did not stop until he had 
passed Richbourgh Mill-dam on Jack's Creek, distant 
about six miles. Having now a mill pond and miry 
swamp between him and the enem^', he halted, saying, 
" Now we are safe." ^ 

Tarleton, learning from the deserter of Marion's ap- 
proach, prepared to receive his attack, but at length, unable 
to account for the slow advance of the Americans, dis- 
patched an officer with a few men to reconnoitre, who soon 
ascertained Marion's retreat. Upon receiving this report, 
Tarleton innnediately started in pursuit and continued, he 
says, for seven hours through swamps and defiles.^ The 
next morning Marion continued his retreat down Black 
River for thirty-five miles, halting about ten miles above 
Kingstree in a position of strength. Tarleton had found 
INIarion's trail across the Woodyard, but had not attempted 
to follow it ; instead he had gone round in a circuit of 
about twenty-live miles, when arriving at a wide and miry 
swamp without a road to pass it he had desisted. It was 
at this time he is reported to have used the expression 
which has ever since characterized the two generals, Sum- 
ter and Marion, " Come, my boys ! let us go back, and 
we will soon find the game-cock (Sumter); but as for this 

1 James's Life of Marion, 02. '^ Tailotou's Cainpaiyns, 172. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 819 

(1 — d ohl for, the devil liimself could not catch liim."^ 
He cUiimed, however, that lie would soon have brought 
Marion to action, had not an express from Earl Cornwallis 
overtaken and recalled him. Some prisoners fell into his 
hands. 2 

When Lord Cornwallis abandoned Charlotte and fell 
back to Winnsboro, General Smallwood, who had com- 
manded a brigade in Gates's disastrous expedition, and who 
had now been commissioned by the State of North Caro- 
lina, collected a force of several thousand militia under 
(lenerals Jethro Sumner, William L. Davidson, and Allen 
Jones, and took post at Providence, about six miles south 
of Charlotte.^ Colonel Davie with 300 mounted infantry 
advanced to Landsford on the Catawba toward the Brit- 
ish right,* and Sumter having assumed command as Briga- 
dier General moved his camp w ith 425 men to Fishdam 
Ford on liroad River, twent^'-eight miles from Winnsboro 
toward the British left. These positions had been taken 
in consequence of a plan concocted between Smallwood 
and Sumter wliile he was in North Carolina, by which 
Sumter was to manoeuvre near the British army at AVinns- 
boro and endeavor to draw off a considerable detachment 
from Cornwallis in pursuit of him, while Smallwood was to 
strike at the main army with tlie renniants of Gates's Con- 
tinentals and the North Carolina militia. Smallwood, 
however, having received information that General Greene 
was soon to be expected to take command of the Southern 
army, did not cooperate according to his engagement. 
Sumter commenced the move.^ 

On the 7th of November Sumter crossed the Broad at 
Fishdam Ford from what is now Union, into Chester 

* James's Life of Marion. ^ Tarlctoii's Campaigns, 172. 

» No. Ca. in 17S0-81 (Schenck), 185. 

« Wheeler's Hist. No. Ca., lOti. ^ McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 238. 



820 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

County. From Fislidam Ford the road to Charlotte runs 
eastward, and on the right there was a pUmtation fence 
along the road for half a mile, from the end of which 
the Winnsboro road leads out to the right. On the left 
of the road the ground was open for 200 yards from the 
river, and partially enclosed by a fence ; then a hill of 
woodland with thick undergrowth began and continued 
200 yards farther along the margin of the road, and 
thence the high ground diverged to the left. On the 
left, about 250 yards from the road, a deep gully made 
out from the river, running nearly parallel to the road 
along the left of the high ground. General Sumter's 
tent was pitched on the left of the road at the ford. 
Colonel Richard Winn's troops, 125 in number, were 
encamped on the General's left, and upward along the 
river. Colonel Thomas Taylor's were encamped along 
the gully on the left of Winn, and Colonels Lacey, 
Bratton, and Hill's troops, upwards of 300 men, were 
encamped on the high ground in the thick wood, about 
350 yards in front. During the day of the 8th Colonels 
Twiggs and Clarke and Majors Candler and Jackson of 
Georgia with about 100 men from that State came in ; 
and in the evening Colonel McCfall with a party from 
Long Cane in Ninety-Six District joined the camp. 
Tliese reenforcements occupied the ground between 
Winn's and Taylor's commands. On the morning of 
the 8th Colonel Taylor with 50 men was ordered to pro- 
ceed toward Winnsboro to reconnoitre the country and 
gain intelligence of the enemy's movements. During the 
day Sumter called his field officers into council. They 
advised him to retire over Broad River, but this he 
declined to do. Taylor returned about midnight, without 
having gained any information.^ 

•> McCall's Hist, of Ga., 338, 340. 



IN THE llEVOLUTION 821 

Lord Cornwallis had received information as to Sumter's 
position from the people in the neighborhood, for this was in 
the Mobley .settlement, where most of the inhabitants were 
Tories. His information was in consequence very exact, 
even to the position of every corps in the encampment, 
and he had the best guides to conduct him to the different 
points. Under these circumstances his lordship laid a 
plan to surprise Sumter, the execution of which he com- 
mitted to Major Wemyss, who with his regiment, the 
Sixty-third, had come across the country from their 
marauding expedition on the Pee Dee, and had now 
joined the army at Winnsboro. Wemyss had brought 
with him a sullicient number of horses, which he had 
plundered from the Whigs, to mount a considerable part 
of his regiment. This body of mounted infantry, with an 
officer and forty men of the Legion who had been left 
at head(piarters when Tarleton had been sent after Marion, 
composed the force with which Wemyss was intrusted to 
execute his lordship's plan. So minute was the informa- 
tion they possessed, that an officer with five men were espe- 
cially detailed to penetrate the camp and attack Sumter 
himself in his tent. 

On the evening of the 8th Wemyss, furnished with 
guides, moved toward Fishdam. Tlie rapidity of the 
march brought him to the American post sooner than he 
expected. A delay till daybreak, which was the time 
intended for the attack, he thought would discover him 
lo Sumter, who might take the opportunity to escape. 
lie determined, therefore, to make the attempt without 
loss of time.^ Fortunately Sumter's officers, who, it 
appears, were uneasy at the situation, were on the alert. 
Colonel Winn suggested to some of them the probability 
of the enemy's attempting a surprise, and he took the pre- 
1 Tarlcton's Campaigns, 173. 



822 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

caution to require liis men to keep up good fires during 
the night, and sleep on tlieir arms in rear of their fires. 
He also wisely pointed out the ground on whicli tliey 
were to form in case of attack. Colonels Twiggs and 
McCall had taken similar precautions, but their ground 
was not so well calculated for defence.^ At one o'clock 
in the morning Major Wemyss, at the head of his corps, 
charged the picket. Out of five shots fired by the Ameri- 
can picket two of them took effect in the arm and knee 
of the British commanding officer. Sumter was in a 
profound sleep, and his orderly neglecting to awaken him 
on the first alarm, the British party assigned to that 
service were at his tent before he could put on his coat. 
He ran out, leaped the fence, and escaped by the river 
bank. As soon as the American picket fired, the British 
advanced in full charge into the camp ; but when the 
dragoons reached the fires before Winn's command, per- 
ceiving no enemy, and blinded by the light, they paused. 
This gave Winn's troops a clear view of them, upon 
which they took deliberate aim and fired. The dragoons 
themselves, thus surprised, wheeled about, and on their 
retreat they killed a young man by the name of Sealy, a 
Loyalist, who had been a prisoner and liberated the day 
before. The British infantry had dismounted, and now 
formed and advanced near the fires. As they did so 
Winn, having formed his men Ix'hind the fence, and 
Twiggs and McCall partially so, ()})ened their fire, which 
was briskly returned for a short time, when the enemy 
charged with bayonets ; but the fence obstructing their 
movements, and receiving a heavy fire from the Ameri- 
cans, they fell back, when they were met by Taylor, 
advancing on their flank, who gave them a heavy fire. 
After an action of twenty minutes the British infantry 
1 McCall's Hist, of Ga., 340. 



IN THE KEVOIA'TION 823 

reinountetl and retreated. Lacey's, Bratton's, and Hill's 
corps did not fire a gun, fearing that they would kill 
their friends, as the action was close and the night 
very dark. McCall, who gives the most circumstantial 
account of the battle, says the British loss was con- 
siderable ; Major Wemyss was badly wounded ; about 
twenty more were killed and the ground strewed with 
their wounded. A surgeon, who was sent with a flag 
to take care of these, declared when he returned to 
Winnsboro that he had never seen so much injury done 
by so few troops in so short a time since he had been 
in America.^ Tarleton states that the British had nearly 
twenty officers and men killed and wounded. ^ 

Upon the result of this affair, Cornwallis immediately 
sent an express to Tarleton, and wrote, saying : " Major 
Wemyss attacked Sumter at Fishdam at one o'clock this 
morning, contrary to his plan, which was to wait until 
daylight; the consequence is that Wemyss is wounded 
and left, and about twenty men. Lieutenant Hoveden is 
wounded, but I believe the Legion has not lost much. 
Must beg you to return immediately, leaving some horses 
for mounting men at Camden. I am under the greatest 
anxiety for Ninety-Six, and trust that you will lose no 
time in returning to me."^ It was this urgent message 
which recalled Tarleton from his pursuit of Marion. 

Wemyss, who was severely wounded, was taken pris- 
oner, and in his pocket, as we have before mentioned, was 
a list of the houses he had burned in Williamsburg and 
on the Pee Dee ; with great trepidation he showed it to 
Sumter, and begged he would protect him from the mili- 
tia. Sumter threw the paper in the fire, and notwith- 
standing the brutality with which Wemyss had personally 

» McCall's Hixt, of (in., 34'i, » Ibid., 200, note. 

* Tarleton' 8 C'ampaiyns, 174. 



824 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

superintended the execution of Mr. AdamCusack and his 
many other atrocities, he was protected and treated with 
indulgence, indeed with kindness ; but he became a cripple 
for life.i 

General Sumter, the day after the fight at Fishdam, 
recrossed the Broad River, and moved down through 
what is now Union County to one Niam's plantation on 
the Enoree.2 Here he appears to have concerted with 
Colonel Clarke of Georgia an attack upon Ninety-Six,^ 
of which Lord Cornwallis had written he was so appre- 
hensive. From the Enoree he again moved southerly, 
through the present Laurens County, and menaced the 
camp established by Ferguson at Williams's plantation on 
Little River ; but the British declined to quit their works 
and come out to battle.* Indeed, Cornwallis reports that 
had Sumter at once attacked the camp, he would have met 
with little resistance.^ 

Upon the recall of his commander-in-chief, Tarleton 
had hurried back, and with such celerity had he marched 
that he had arrived in his neighborhood before Sumter 
had even heard of his advance. On passing the Wateree, 
he received instructions from Cornwallis to lead the light 
troops to Brierley's Ferry ^ on the Broad, where he would 
find the first battalion of the Seventy-first and a detach- 
ment of the Sixty-third Regiment. This latter regiment, 
after its defeat at Fishdam, had not yet returned to 
Winnsboro when it was directed to proceed to meet Tarle- 
ton. Before reaching the ferry, Tarleton received further 

1 Ramsay's Revolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 189 ; James's Life of Marion, 
73; Gre^f^'s Old Cheraws, 300; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. 1,317, note. 

2 McCall's Jlist. of Ga., 343. 

8 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 205. 

* McCall, supra. ** Tarleton's Campaiftns, 204. 

6 Afterwards Sliirer's and then Strothev's Ferry. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 825 

orders from Cornwallis to pass the river with the Legion, 
the light infantry, and the Sixty-third, and to cut off 
Sumter, who, he was told, was moving against Ninety-Six. 
Care was taken to conceal the green uniform of Tarleton's 
Legion from the American picket, which occupied the 
opposite bank, in order to throw them oft' their guard and 
continue their belief in the absence of the British Legion 
on the expedition against jNLu'ion. On the evening of the 
ISth Tarleton received information of Sumter's position 
before the camp at Williams's plantation, with a force 
re})resented as one thousand strong. At daybreak the 
next morning Tarleton started with light troops, taking 
the direction of Indian Creek, a branch of Enoree, through 
what is now Newberry County, and marching all day with 
great diligence, encamped at night with secrecy and pre- 
caution near that river. Another day's movement was 
intended up the banks of the Enoree, which would have 
placed him directly in the rear of Sumter at Williams's 
plantation. Sumter's surprise was frustrated by a deserter 
from the Sixty-third Regiment, who, at twelve o'clock that 
night, carried him the information of Tarleton's approach. ^ 
Upon this Sumter fell back, moving up the country, and 
took post at Blackstock on the south side of Tyger River 
in I'nion County, sixty miles from Winnsboro and thirty- 
five miles from Fishdam Ford on the Broad River. ^ 

Blackstock was a large tobacco house, built of logs, long 
and narrow and of two apartments of eighteen feet square, 
with eighteen feet space between and a roof or wall. 
Ill the rear of the house, a few hundred 3ards, was the 
crossing place of the Tyger River ; midway from the 
house to the river was a hill, sloping down from the right, 
nearly parallel with the house, and terminating at the 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 175-176. 

2 McCairs JIht. i>f Uii., 343. 



826 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

road. The house was on a second elevation below the 
hill, with open woodland forming a half moon with its 
concave to the front. The road led from the river by the 
right of the house, and, passing its front, descended through 
the field about one hundred yards to a small rivulet. 
Near thcvroad to the right was low brushwood, and on 
the left a field with a fence extending a quarter of a mile 
in a straisfht direction where the road divided. The field 
on the left made a right angle at the house, and the fence 
ran directly to the left to the low grounds of the river. 
On the right of the road, opposite to the end of the house, 
was a small pole building. On the second elevation, in 
the rear of the house and parallel thereto, General Sumter 
encamped his troops, and expecting that he would be 
attacked, he assigned to each corps its jDosition. Colonel 
Henry Hampton was directed to occupy the house Avith 
his troops. Colonel Twiggs of Georgia, the senior officer 
under General Sumter, assisted by Colonel Clarke and 
Majors Candler and Jackson with the Georgia troops, 
was to occupy the fence and woodland to the left of the 
house. Colonels Bratton, Taylor, Hill, and McCall were 
to occupy the right of the house with their right formed 
on the curve of the rising ground. Their corps was to 
be commanded by the General in person. Colonel Lacey 
was directed to cover the right, and Colonel Winn to 
occupy the hill as a corps of reserve. Colonel Chandler 
had been detached on the march to collect provisions. 
General Sumter's force consisted of 420 men.^ 

Tarleton had continued his pursuit at dawn of the 
20th, and before ten o'clock had information of Sumter's 
retreat. On reaching a ford on the Enoree, where he 
expected to gain further intelligence or to come up with 
the Americans, he found that Sumter had passed the 
1 McCall's Hist, of Ga., 343, 344 ; Life of Lacey (Moore), 22. 



s 

IN THE REVOLUTION 827 

river nearly two hours before. He states that a detach- 
ment to cover tke rear was waiting there the return of a 
patrol, and that the advanced guard of the British 
dragoons charged this body and defeated tlieni with con- 
siderable slaughter.^ The facts, as given by McCall, were 
that Captain Patrick Carr with a few men, 'had been 
ordered to reconnoitre, and had taken prisoners three 
unarmed Loj'al militia and two boys, who had been to 
the mill. Carr was conducting these men to camp when 
Tarleton's advance guard came upon them. Carr gave 
them a shot and fell back to the main body, leaving the 
prisoners and mill boys behind. These poor fellows were 
killed by Tarleton's men, and constituted the party he 
reported defeated " with considerable slaughter." ^ Tarle- 
ton pressed on with his whole force until four o'clock in 
the afternoon, when, apprehending that Sumter Avould 
pass the Tyger River unmolested before dark, he left 
his Legion light infantry to march at their own pace, whilst 
he made a rapi<l pursuit with 170 cavalrymen of the Legion 
and eighty mounted infantrymen of the Sixty-third llegi- 
ment.^ Colonel Chandler, with his forage wagon, had 
just passed Sumter's picket when the picket fired on 
Tarleton's van. Taylor, with his party and wagons, 
ran in with the pickets and were closely pursued by the 
liritisli dragoons when they entered the camp.* 

Tarleton immediately advanced to the attack, as he came 
up with Sumter at Blackstoek before five o'clock in the 
evening. l'[)()n receiving the fire of the American picket, 
lie ordered his infantry to dismount, and with the cavalry 
made a rapid charge through the field on the Georgians 
under Colonel Twiggs. The British infantry advanced, 

» Tarleton's Campaigns, 170. - McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 345. 
' Tark'tou'.s Vumjuiiyns, 17(5, 177. 
* McCall's Hist, of (fa., vol. II, 345. 



828 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and Sumter, leading on Bratton, Taylor, Hill, and McCall 
to the attack, gained their flank. ^ Colonel Lacey's mounted 
infantry advanced to the west side through a thick wood, 
within seventy-five paces of the enemy, undiscovered, when 
with a well-directed fire twenty men and nearly as many 
horses fell. Tarleton's cavalry were afraid to enter the 
thick wood to get at Lacey's troops, but pressed forward 
through the lane, where they fell so tliickly that their 
numbers, dying and dead, blocked up the road.^ ]\Iean while 
the Sixty-third was roughly handled. The part of the 
hill to which their attack was directed was nearly perpen- 
dicular, and their left was exposed to the log house into 
which Hampton's men had been thrown and from which, 
as the apertures between the logs served them for loop- 
holes, they fired with security. Tarleton, repulsed, fell 
back with his cavalry, but re-formed, returned to the 
charge, and thus continued, directing his chief efforts to 
turn the American left ; he had nearly succeeded in doing 
this when Colonel Winn advanced to the support of the 
Georgians. Tarleton was again compelled to retire with 
precipitation, and was pursued by a party under Major 
James Jackson, which took upwards of thirty horses. 
Sumter unfortunately had been disabled. While engaged 
in leading on the attack from the right, he was shot in 
the right shoulder. He requested his aide-de-camp to put 
his sword into the scabbard and to direct a man to lead 
off his horse. " Say nothing about it," he directed, " and 
re(iuest Colonel Twiggs to take command." The action 
closed, leaving the Americans in possession of the field. 

Colonel Twiggs directed the enemy's wounded to be 
collected, and as many of them as could be sheltered were 
laid in the houses. Supposing that Tarleton would renew 

1 McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 314. 

2 Life of Lacoj (Moore), 23. 



IN THK UEVOLUTION 829 

the action with his increased force when the Seventy-first 
Ileginient and the Legion and light infantry came up, 
Twiggs ordered tlie troops to retreat and cross the Tyger 
liivi'r, where they woukl be nnassaihible. He left Colonel 
Winn with the command on the battle ground until night ; 
where Winn caused a number of fires to be lighted up as 
of an encampment, and then safely crossed the river. 
There was an extraordinary difference in the casualties 
occurring between the two parties. Of the British, the 
American authorities claim that ninety-two were killed 
and one hundred wounded, among the former Major 
Moneys and Lieutenants Gibson and Cope. Tarleton 
admits a loss of but lifty-one. Of the Americans one 
was killed and three wounded, including Sumter. ^ 

Tarleton, as usual, claimed the result of the action as a 
victory, and so reported it to Earl Cornwallis, and his 
lordslii}) allowed it as such. On the 23d of November he 
writes to Tarleton : — 

" I have no doubt but your victory will be attended \yith as good 
consequences to our affairs as it is with honor and credit to yourself; 
/ sfutll be verif glad to hear that Sumter is in a condition to give us no 
further trouble ; he certainly has been our greatest plague in this 
country." " 

Sumter's wound prevented liim from annoying them 
during the remitinder of his lordship's sojourn in South 
Carolina; but lie was soon again to be in the field, as great 
a plague to the British as ever. Cornwallis accepted 
'I'arleton's claim of victory in tlie action at Blackstock, 
but subsequent Englisli historians have refused to recog- 
nize it as a success to the liritish army. jNIcKenzie in his 
Strictures on Tark'ton's work demonstrates tliat it was 

> MiCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 340; Life of Laceij (Moore), 23; 
Tarluton's t'ainpaiijns, 17U-180. 



830 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

not ; ^ and sober British authorities liave ceased to claim 
it as a success. Steadniun adopts McKenzie's account. 
He says that it was compiled from the concurrent testi- 
mony of several officers present in the action, and it has 
been preferred to Tarleton's own account because his 
claim of victor}^ is evidently inconsistent with some other 
circumstances which he admits, — particularly this, that 
he did not gain possession of the field of action until the 
next morning, after it had been quitted by the Americans 
in the night. ^ 

On his retreat to Winnsboro Tarleton made captive a 
number of old men and stout boys, and carried them to 
headquarters as trophies won in the recent action ; many 
of his captives, however, proved their loyalty to the King, 
and obtained their liberty ; the others were doomed to a 
tedious imprisonment in Camden jail. A victory in these 
times could scarcely pass without a hanging, and as Tarle- 
ton claimed Blackstock as a victory on his part, he must 
celebrate it by an execution ; so he hanged Mr. Johnston, 
a respectable man and the father of a numerous family of 
young children.^ 

The Whigs, soon after the battle, crossed over the 
Tyger, and the part of the army raised for the occasion 
was disbanded. Colonel Lacey kept the field with his 
mounted infantry. lie established his camp and head- 
quarters at Liberty Hill on Turkey Creek in what is 
now York County, from which position he greatly an- 
noyed the enemy by cutting off" his foraging parties.'* 
Colonel Clarke and Lieutenant Colonel McCall determined 
to press on in the movement on Ninety-Six. This dis- 
trict, since the surrender of Charlestown, had been less 
disturbed by the operations of the war than any other in 

1 Strictures on Tarleton\i Hist., 75. « McCaH's Hist. ofGa., vol. II, 348. 

2 ytcadiuau's Am. War, vul. 11, 231. * Life of Lacey (Moore), 



IN THE REVOLUTION 831 

tlie State, except in the Low Country to the south of 
Charlostown. The Britisli post at Ninety-Six, under Lieu- 
tenant Cok)nel Cruger, was indeed the only one which liad 
not been assailed by the patriot forces. The conduct of 
Williamson and the strict view which Pickens had taken 
of the binding force of the parole he had given had the 
effect of preventing any uprising of the people in this 
sett ion ; but the unexampled cruelties and pillage which 
had been practised and encouraged by the British had 
drawn many into arms, however unwillingly. The best- 
affected settlement to the cause of independence in the 
neiglil)nrhood of Ninety-Six was that of Long Cane. To 
this Clarke and MoCall turned their attention for recruits 
to their force and to annoy the enemy about Ninety-Six. 

After resting a few days near Berwick's, or Wofford's, 
Iron Works, they advanced by an upper route toward 
Long Cane early in December, and on their way were 
joined by Colonel Benjamin Few of Georgia, with a part 
of the refugees frrun that State. Colonel Few assumed 
the command. The position of their encampment Avas 
favorable for the increase of their numbers, and the pros- 
pect was flattering tliat in a short time they would be 
sulliciently strong to confine the British within their 
stronghold. Colonel Cruger, who commanded at Ninety- 
Six, aware of the consequences which would result from 
permitting Few to remain unmolested in his position, 
determined to attack him in eamp, and ho[>ed to take 
liim by surprise. On Sunday, the 10th of December, 
Cruger dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Allen with two 
hundred regular troops, two hundred Loyalists, and fifty 
dragoons. Marching about twenty miles, they halted on 
Monday afternoon, the llth,i within three miles of Few's 
camp l)efore he was aware of their approach. Colonel 
1 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette. December 2;], 1780. 



832 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Clarke, Lieutenant Colonel McCall, and Major Lindsay 
were ordered by Few to meet the enemy, commence the 
action, and sustain it until the main body could be brought 
up to their assistance. Clarke, McCall, and Lindsay 
advanced about a mile and a half, and, dismounting, tied 
their horses Avithin one hundred yards of the enemy's 
front, which was composed of Loyal militia. These they 
at once engaged, and the action became lively. They had 
attacked so quickly that the regular troops Avere but just 
formed when the action began. Li about ten minutes 
the Loyalist militia retreated ; some of them fled, and the 
remainder formed in the rear of the regular troops. 
Clarke sent an express to Few to hasten the march of 
the main body, and with his troops advanced on the 
regulars, delivering a fire which wounded some of them. 
Unfortunately, just at this juncture, he received a wound 
in his shoulder, which was at first supposed to be mortal, 
and was carried from the field. 

Colonel Allen received the advancing Americans with a 
fire and the bayonet, and brought up the Loyalists lie had 
rallied on the American flank. About this time McCall 
was also wounded and his horse killed. The horse falling 
upon him, McCall narrowly escaped with his life. Major 
Lindsay also was wounded. All their leaders having thus 
fallen, the Americans retreated and were charged by the 
enemy's dragoons. Major Lindsay, who had received three 
wounds, was sabred upon his head and arms, and one of 
his hands was cut off by Captain Lang of the dragoons, 
as he lay on the ground. Fourteen Americans were killed, 
and several others who were wounded and unable to make 
resistance were slain on the ground where they lay. The 
atrocities of Tarleton's massacre of Hiiford's men at the 
Waxhaws were thus repeated on a smaller scale. The killed 
amounted to fourteen, and the wounded who escaped with 



IN THE REVOLUTION 833 

life to seven. The British claimed to have killed and 
wounded about sixty. They admitted a loss of three 
wounded.^ 

"NVhtMi the remains of Colonel Clarke's command returned 
to the camp, they found Colonel Few and the main body 
of troops under orders for retreat and ready to move off, 
without having given any previous intimation to those in 
advance. Some harsh observations were made by some of 
the officers who had been engaged, relative to Few's con- 
duct, whether justly on that occasion is not certain. He 
had previously given proof of courage and good conduct. 
He justified himself by saying that the intelligence he had 
received after Colonel Clarke was engaged induced a belief 
that the force of the enemy was so far superior to his own 
that it would have been imprudent to have met them in a 
general engagement. But this surely did not justify him 
in withholding from Clarke notice of his intentions, or in 
making an effort to secure his retreat. The whole Amer- 
ican force was about 500, the British 450. ^ But 100 of 
tlie Americans were actually engaged. 

On the 13th of January, 1781, Congress adopted the 
following resolution :^ — 

*' Congress taking into consideration the eminent services rendered 
to tlie United States by Brigadier General Sumter of South Carolina 
at the head of a number of volunteer militia from that and the neigh- 
boring State, particularly in the victory obtained over the enemy at 
Hanging Rock on the (!th of August, in the defeat of Major Wemyss 
and the corps of British Infantry and dragoons under his command 
at Broad River on the 9th day of November, in which the said Major 
Wemyss was made prisoner, and on the repulse of Lieutenant Colonel 
Tarli-ton and tlie British cavalry and infantry under his command at 
Blackstock on Tyger River on tiie 20th of November last, in each of 

» McCairs imt. of Gn., vol. II, 340, 350 ; So. Ca. and Am. Gen. 
Gazrtte, Di'ceniber 23, 1780. 

2 McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 350, 351. » Sumter MSB. 

VOL. III. — 3 II 



834 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

whicli actions the gallantry and military conduct of General Sumter 
and the courage and perseverance of his troops were highly conspicuous. 

" Resolved, therefore, that the thanks of Congress be presented to 
Brigadier General Sumter and the militia aforesaid for such reiter- 
ated proofs of their patiiotism, bravery, and military conduct which 
entitles them to the highest esteem and confidence of their country 
and that the commanding officer of tlie Southern department do forth- 
with cause the same to be issued in general orders and transmitted to 
General Sumter." 

The district of Ninety-Six had thus far, in a great 
measure, escaped the ravages of the war. Colonel Cruger's 
wise conduct, his gentle yet firm course, had held quiet the 
people in that section, who were indeed generally loyal to 
the King ; and in this he had doubtless been aided by the 
rigid regard which Colonel Pickens had persistently held 
to the parole he had given. The example of Pickens's 
conduct, in inflexibly adhering to what he considered that 
his honor required in maintaining his word, had doubt- 
less influenced the conduct of others who might have 
been inclined more lightly to regard the obligations 
of theirs. But fortunately for the cause of his country, 
just at this critical time a raid was made by Dunlap 
upon Pickens's plantation, his house plundered, his 
family insulted, and his friends and neighbors alike ill 
treated. This violation of the protection which had been 
pledged him when he had given his parole, he regarded 
as releasing him from its reciprocal obligations. Sending 
word to Colonel Cruger of his determination, against the 
advice and entreaty of tlie British ofticers whose friend- 
ship he had won during his parole, he now took the field 
and brought to the cause of liberty the great weight of 
his high character. The story of his advent to the Ameri- 
can cause, the particular circumstances of his coming, as 
well as his subsequent distinguished career, belong, liow- 
ever, more api)roi)riately to the coming campaign under 
General Greene, of which we shall hereafter tell. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

1780 

The year 1780, so memorable in the history of South 
Carolina, though devoid of activity, was not without inci- 
dent in the Northern States. Sir Henry Clinton had hur- 
ried from Charlestown to New York to avoid the French 
fleet, and had reached that port in safety a month before 
the fleet appeared on the coast. On the 18th of July 
Washington received intelligence of the arrival on the 
12th at Newport of the Count de Rochambeau and the 
( hevalier de Ternay, with land and naval forces from 
France. The naval force consisted of eight ships of the 
line, two frigates, and two bombs, and upwards of five 
thousand men.^ Although it was now midsummer, the 
Frencli commander found the American forces unprepared 
for active and offensive coo})eration. In anticipation of 
the arrival of the French auxiliaries, Washington had in 
vain endeavored to obtain from Congress some assurance 
of the strength of the reenforcements upon which he 
could rely. In this he was seconded by the French Minis- 
ter, who addressed Congress on the same subject, and 
transmitted the answers he received to the Commander-in- 
chief. To the French Minister Congress stated at large 
the measures they had taken to recruit the new army and 
to obtain supplies of provisions. The present weakness 
of their military force was attributed principally to the 

1 Wa.shington's Writings, vol. VII, 113. 
835 



886 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

fall of Charlestown, to a diversion of a large portion of it 
to the Southern Department, and to the heavy losses sus- 
tained from fatigue and desertion during a long and 
tiresome march. ^ 

Writing to the President of Congress on the 18th of 
November, 1779, Washington had submitted an abstract 
taken from the muster rolls of the troops of each State in 
October (South Carolina and (Jeorgia excepted), contain- 
ing a return not only of the whole strength of each, and 
of the independent corps at that time, but of the different 
periods for which they stood engaged. From this return 
it appeared that the whole force amounted to 27,099, of 
which 410 were invalids, 14,998 were engaged for the war, 
and the terms of enlistment of the remainder would expire 
at different periods during the succeeding year. It was 
no doubt true, as Washington went on to observe, that it 
could not be supposed the wliole of this number were either 
actually in service or really in existence, as tlie amount of 
an army on paper would always exceed its real strength. ^ 
But allowing for all such inaccuracies and proper deduc- 
tions, there could scarcely have remained less than 25,000 
men properly on these rolls. And this was indeed the 
number Congress assured the French Minister they could 
bring into the field. ^ Granting, however, that the troops 
sent to the South were to be deducted from this estimate, 
to what did these amount ? There had been sent to Lincoln 
the North Carolina brigade under Hogaii, which when it 
passed through Philadelphia numbered 700, the Virginia 
line, whicli, including those whose terms of enlist- 
ment would sliortly expire, and who were retained by 
Washington, was supposed to amount to over 3000 

1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 249. 

2 WasliiiiKton's ir?-(Y(Hf/s, vol. VI, 402. 

8 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 248. 



IN THE liEVOLL'TIOX 837 

men ; ^ but of which only 1950 reached the South- 
ern Department, to wit : Colonel Heth's corps 400, the 
remains of Bland's and Baylor's dragoons under William 
Washington 100, and of Moylan's under Colonel White, 
Woodford's brigade, 700, IJuford's 350, and Porter- 
lield's 400. Then Gates and De Kalb had brought the 
Maryland and Delaware lines and Continental artillery 
numbering 1500. So the diversion of the army to the 
Southern Department, which Congress represented to the 
French Minister as the cause of the smallness of Washing- 
ton's force, took away in all but 4150 men, which should 
have left to the Commander-in-chief considerably over 
20,000 from the Northern States to oppose the garrison 
of New York and its dependencies, which in January were 
supposed to be reduced to 10,000 or 11,000 effectives,^ and 
which in April did not in fact exceed 8000 men,^ nor after 
the return of Sir Henry Clinton from South Carolina in June 
12,000 regulars.* But Washington had not near so many as 
20,000 men left after sending off the reenforcements to the 
South. ^ Though the winter was so severe that the Hudson 
was frozen, and Lieutenant General Knyphausen, left in com- 
mand of the garrison at New York during the absence of Sir 
Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis, was thus exposed to 
attack by the American army crossing the ice, Washington 

1 Lincoln's Letter to Washington, Year Book of the City of Charleston, 
1807 (Sniytli), ;J.V). 

2 Marsliall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 197. 
8 Wasliini^on's Writings, vol. VII, 23. 

* Marshiill's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 2.32. 

6 By General Knox's n-port the whole number of troops furnished in 
tlic ten States tluring the year 1780 (i.e. excluding the Carolina^ and 
Georgia) wa.s 21,015. Deducting those of Delaware (325), Maryland 
(2005), and Virginia (248«)), in all 48G0. there .should still have re- 
mained 1(5,149 of the Northern Slates under \Va.shington's command. 
Not all, however, of the troops of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia had 
been sent to the South. 



838 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was too weak to take advantage of the favorable circum- 
stance. Indeed, he was so weak that on the contrary he was 
subjected to the humiliation of an invasion of the Jerseys by 
the reduced British garrison, and the burning of the flourish- 
ing settlement known as the Connecticut Farms, six miles 
from Elizabeth, as well as the village of Springfield. By 
a return of the whole army under Washington's immediate 
command, made on the 3d of June, there did not appear 
to be present and fit for duty more than 3760 men rank 
and file.^ 

The reduction of Washington's army to an inferiorit}' 
to that of the British, even after their larger detachments 
to the South, was owing to causes much more serious than 
the diversion of a part of it to meet the British invasion 
in South Carolina. The truth is, that the American cause 
was at a lower ebb at tlie North when the French allies 
arrived than even in South Carolina, which had been over- 
run in every section by British troops. In South Caro- 
lina, as the invaders swept over the State, they converted 
friends into foes, and patriots and heroes arose in every 
direction to renew the struggle against oppression. At 
the North, except in the immediate vicinity of the armies, 
there was languor, indifference, and unwillingness to longer 
contribute men or supplies. To so low an ebb, indeed, 
had the tide of American affairs fallen in this year, 1780, 
that, as has before appeared. Lord G-eorge Germain could 
write from Whitehall exultingly to Sir Henry Clinton, 
that by the return of the Provincial forces in the King's 
service he had transmitted it appeared that more Ameri- 
cans were enlisted in her Majesty's cause than were en- 

1 MarshalPs Life of Washington, vol. IV, 228. At this time the Brit- 
ish Provincial forces — that is, troops raised in America — amounted to 
8954. So. Ca. in the Revolutionary War (Siuinis), 55, quoting State Taper 
Office. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 839 

listed in the Continental army to fight for the rights and 
liberties of America.^ 

The emission of the full sum of -1200,000,000 in Conti- 
nental bills of credit, which Congress had solemnly re- 
solved not to exceed, had been completed in November, 
1779, and was entirely expended. The requisitions in 
the State to replenish the treasury by taxes had not 
l)een fully com[)lied with, and had they even been strictly 
observed, would by no means have produced a sum in 
any degree equal to the public expenditure. It became 
therefore necessary to devise other measures which should 
affonl the means of carrying on the war. During the 
distresses which brought the army almost to the point 
of dissolution, these measures were under consideration. 
As early as December, 1779, it had been determined to 
change the mode which had been adopted for supplying 
the army by purchases, and instead to make requisitions 
of specific articles in the several States. In this, Con- 
gress was but seeking to avoid its own responsibility and 
endeavoring to cast it upon the individual States. Nor 
could this change be brought into immediate operation. 
The legislatures of the several States by which it was to 
be adoptctl and carried into execution were, many of them, 
not then in session. A greater part of the summer must 
necessarily therefore pass away before supplies could thus 
be obtained. In the meantime, nntil a new scheme of 
finance could be adopted, there being no regular fund to be 
certainly relied on for the support of the array, a desperate 
scheme of raising money was devised. Mr. Jay, who had 
succeeded Henry Laurens as President of Congress, had 
been sent at the end of the year 1779 as plenipotentiary 
to S[)ain, where he landi'd in January, 1780 ; and Congress 
was now about to send Henry Laurens to Amsterdam 
* Clinton-Cornicallis Controversy, vol. I, 335. 



840 HISTORY OV SOUTH CAROLINA 

to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Netherlands. 
Witliout waiting to learn whether Mr. Jay would be 
received at Madrid, or even for the departure of Mr. 
Laurens upon his mission, bills to the amount of £100,000 
sterling, payable at six months' sight, were directed to be 
drawn on these gentlemen, and were sold in small sums 
on pressing occasions. Loan offices were also opened 
in the several States for borrowing from individuals.^ Mr. 
Jay was not recognized at Madrid, and the bills drawn on 
him were a source of great annoyance and embarrassment 
in his mission. Mr. Laurens did not reach his destina- 
tion. He was captured on his voyage, taken to England, 
and thrown into the Tower of London. Another financial 
scheme was adopted on the 18tli of March, which was 
nothing more than a second essay to substitute credit for 
money, unsupported by solid funds, and resting solely on 
public faith. But neither could this go into operation 
until sanctioned by the legislature of the several States, 
many of which were yet to convene ; and when they 
should meet, they would surely add their own emissions 
to the new currency of Congress. 

Expecting assistance from France, Congress determined 
upon the establishment of the army for the campaign of 
1780 at 35,211 men ; the raising of these men was of course 
left to the States, which were called upon to bring tlicm into 
the field by the first day of April. Washington, though 
disapproving, was unremitting in his endeavors to render 
the plans of Congress as perfect in detail as possible, and to 
give to their execution all the aid which his situation en- 
abled him to afford. But his efforts and appeals were un- 
availing. New Jersey, in which the largest division of the 
army was stationed, although much exhausted, exerted her- 
self, and her quota of supplies was ])romptly furnished. She 
1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 209. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 841 

aviiik'd luTsolf, however, of the provision of Congress in 
regard to the furiiisliiiig of supplies, " That any State which 
shall have taken the necessary measures for furnishing its 
([uola ;nul have given notice tliereof to Congress shall be 
authori/ed to prohibit any Continental quartermaster or 
commissary from purchasing within its limits.'"^ This 
most extraordinary measure of Congress, b}^ which it dis- 
abled itself frt)m procuring its supplies in the open markets 
of any States which should undertake to provide its quota, 
operated most disastrously, as might hav6 been expected. 
It was obvious that the demand in any State, which should 
become the theatre of war, would be much greater than its 
quota in the general apportionment, and experience had 
shown that transportation of specific articles from distant 
places was always dillicult and expensive, and sometimes 
impossible. New Jersey did her duty so far as furnishing 
the [)roportionate supplies demanded of her ; but her leg- 
islature passed an act prohibiting, under severe penalties, 
tlie purchase by the staff of the Continental line of pro- 
visions within her borders, and declined authorizing its 
own agents to provide for any emergency, however press- 
ing. ^ The supplies furnished by New Jersey afforded but 
a temporary relief, and when they were exhausted, the 
army was again distressed for food. The supplies for 
the forage de[)artment failed, and a great proportion of 
the public horses perished or became unfit for use. No 
means were possessed for the ])urchase of others, and Gen- 
eral (ireene, the (piartermaster general, found himself un- 
able to transport provisions from distant magazines to the 
camp. In this dire distress Washington was reduced to 
the necessity of calling for voluntary contributions under 
the [M'ualty of military impressment — a measure little 
short of using the army against its own people. 

1 Marsliall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 205. 
^ Ibid., 207. 



842 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The want of food and transportation were not the only 
difficulties. Others of a serious nature also presented 
themselves. The pay of an officer, says Marshall, was 
now reduced by the depreciation of money to such a mis- 
erable pittance as to be unequal to the supply of the most 
moderate demands. ' The pay of a major general would 
no longer have compensated an express rider, and that of 
a captain would not have furnished the shoes in which he 
marched when leading his company against the enemy. 
Many of the officers had expended their own means in 
supplying themselves with decent apparel ; and those who 
possessed none could rely only on the State to which they 
belonged for such clothing as the State might be willing 
or able to furnish. These supplies were so insufficient 
and so unequal as to produce the most extreme dissatis- 
faction. In the lines of some of the States the officers in 
a body gave notice of their determination to resign on a 
given day, if some decent and certain provision should not 
be made for them. Upon the appeal, however, of Wash- 
ington, they offered to serve as volunteers until their suc- 
cessors should be appointed, and on the absolute rejection 
of this proposition, they were with difficulty induced to 
remain in service. 

Among the rank and file the condition of things was 
even worse. The first efforts made toward the close of 
the campaign of 1776, to enlist troops for the war, had 
in some degree succeeded ; so that, as has been seen, in 
October, 1779, there were very nearly fifteen thousand 
men upon the rolls enlisted for the war. In some of the 
States, especially in Pennsylvania, a considerable portion 
of these had been engaged upon but small bounties. But 
as the war went on, and it became more difficult to obtain 
recruits, the States had actually bidden against each other 
in the amount of bounty for soldiers. The result was, as of 



IN THE REVOLUTION 843 

old, that those who had liired themselves for a penny a 
day comi)lained bitterly when eleventh-hour recruits were 
put into their ranks at bounties which, while in the then 
state of the currency were really of no great value, ap- 
peared nominally to be immense. These considerations 
induced many to appeal to the civil courts to relieve them 
from their engagements, and many to desert. 

A committee of Congress, having visited the army, 
reported that they found it unpaid for five months ; that 
it seldom had more than six days' provisions in advance, 
and was, on several occasions, for several successive days, 
without meat ; that it was destitute of forage ; the medi- 
cal department insufficiently supplied ; that every depart- 
ment was without money and without even the shadow of 
credit ; that the patience of the soldiers, borne down by 
tlie pressure of complicated sufferings, was on the point 
of being exhausted. Upon this re[)ort, a resolution was 
adopted that Congress would make good to the line of 
the army and to the independent corps the deticiency of 
their original pay, which had been occasioned by the depre- 
ciation of the Continental currency. This resolution, 
which was published in general orders, produced a good 
impression for a while ; but promises for the future could 
not sui)])ly the pressing wants of the present. For a con- 
siderable time tiie troops received only from one-half to 
one-eighth of a ration of meat, and at length were for 
several days without any. All this caused relaxation of 
discipline, and the minds of the soldiers became soured to 
such a degree that their discontent broke out into actual 
mutiny. 

'I\v() regiments, belonging to Connecticut, on the 25th 
of May paraded under arms, witli a declared resolution to 
return home or to obtain subsistence at the point of the 
bayonet. The soldiers of the other regiments, though 



844 jirsTORY OF south cauolixa 

lliey did not actually join the mutineers, showed no dis- 
position to suppress the mutiny. By great exertions on 
the part of the ofBcers, aided l)y the appearance of a neigh- 
boring brigade of Pennsylvania, the leaders were secured, 
and the two regiments brought back to their duty. This 
mutiny, though put down, disclosed a serious and alarm- 
ing: condition of affairs. When reminded of the resolu- 
tion of Congress for making good in future the loss 
sustained by this depreciation of the currency, of the 
reputation acquired by their past good conduct, and of 
the great objects for which they were contending, they 
answered that their sufferings were too great to be longer 
supported, that the}^ wanted present relief, and must have 
some present substantial recompense for their services. 
A paper was found in the brigade, which appeared to have 
been brought by some emissary from New York, stimulat- 
ing the troops by artful insinuations to the abandonment 
of this cause on which they were engaged. It was a 
knowledge of the existence of these discontented and mu- 
tinous spirits in the American army which induced Gen- 
eral Knyphausen to cross from Staten Island to invade 
New Jersey, and to burn the Connecticut Farms and 
Springfield. 

The mutiny of the Connecticut troops took place on 
the 25th of May, that is, nearly two weeks after the 
fall of Charlestown and two days before the slaughter of 
liuford's men at the Waxhaws. The Continental army of 
the South was in captivity ; that of the North was in 
mutiny. Dark, indeed, for the American cause were the 
long daj^s in June, 1780. 

There was a temporary break, however, in the over- 
hanging clouds. The Marquis de La Fa3'ette had re- 
turned from France, which he had revisited in the interest 
of the struggling States. He arrived late in April at 



IN TIIK RRVDLUTION 845 

IJoston in a French frigate, and hastened to Washington's 
headquarters. Thence he proceeded to Congress, with 
the information that his most Christian Majesty had con- 
sented to employ a considerable land and naval armament 
in the United States for the ensuing campaign. The 
.Nhircpiis bringing this intelligence was received with joy 
and affection, and some new impulse was given to both 
'Congress and the State legislatures ; but the proceedings 
of the States were slow and far from producing the reen- 
forcements required. It was not until June and July 
that the legislatures of the respective States passed the 
acts which were required to bring into the field a force 
competent for the great objects now contemplated. In the 
meanwhile the army was reduced in June, as has appeared, 
to considerably less than four thousand men, and Wash- 
ington remained uninformed of the force on which he 
might rely to cooperate with the expected allies from 
France. He had hoped that liis own army would be so 
reenforced by the time of the arrival of the French fleet 
that an attempt might be made on New York before Sir 
Henry Clinton's return from South Carolina. But in this 
he was disappointed. Sir Henry returned with about 
four thousand troops from Charlestown before the French 
ileet appeared. It was then determined that the arma- 
ment from France should on its arrival disembark at 
Newport in Rhode Island and there wait until a more 
definite plan of operation could be concerted. While 
Washington Avas still awaiting the action of the States, 
Ills army, in July, being increased by not more than one 
thousand men, intelligence was received that a large 
l-'rench fleet had ])een seen between the capes of Virginia ; 
and (Jeneral Heath, who connnanded there, was directed 
to make every preparation for their reception and accom- 
modation in Rhode Island. 



846 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

On tlie lOtb of July, in the afternoon, the fleet appeared 
in sight of Newport. Tlie ships stood into the harbor, and, 
upon landing, the commander was put into possession of 
all tlie forts and batteries in and about Newport. Profit- 
ing by the experience at Savannah of a divided command, 
De Rochambeau, the French commander, was placed by 
his government under the command of General Washing- 
ton, and the French troops were to be considered as auxil- 
iaries only. Every effort was made to prevent friction 
or jealousies between the two armies. It was first pro- 
posed to employ the joint forces in an attempt to recover 
New York ; but for this it was assumed that a decisive 
naval superiority was essential. Without it nothing 
could be effected. The 5th of August was named as the 
day on which the French troops should reembark, and the 
Americans assemble at Morrisiana for the expedition. 
In further consideration of a former experience, it was 
settled as a preliminary to any undertaking that the fleet 
and army of France should at all events continue their 
aid until the enterprise undertaken should be successful, 
or be abandoned by mutual consent. The disaster before 
Savannah, which, says IMarshall, had been a prelude to all 
the calamities in the South, most probably suggested this 
precaution.^ 

The French squadron commanded by Chevalier de Ter- 
nay was decidedly superior to that of Admiral Arbuthnot, 
who lay in New York with only four ships of the line and 
a few frigates. But three days after De Ternay had reached 
Newport, Admiral Graves arrived with six British ships 
of the line, and thus tlie superiority at sea was entirely 
reversed. This change of circumstance caused the aban- 
donment of the plan against New York. On the arrival 
of Graves, Arbuthnot put out from that harbor, and, learn- 
1 Life of Washington, vol. IV, 257. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 847 

ing tliat De Teriiay had reached Rhode Ishind, immediately 
proceeded thitlier. J)e Ternay (hired not attack him, and 
the French army and navy, from whicli so much had been 
expected, were confined to Newport, where they remained 
"• bottled up," as it has since been expressed, for nearly 
.1 year, while the war was waging in the South. De 
Ternay was at first hopeful of relief by the coming of a 
second division of tlie French fleet ; but, instead, Admiral 
Rodney had appeared in September with eleven British 
ships of the line and four frigates, disconcerting all the 
plans of the allies, and enabling Sir Henry Clinton in 
security to send Leslie to Virginia to cooperate with Corn- 
wallis in Soutli Carolina. Then had followed the treason 
and esca[)e of Arnold and the capture of Major Andre, who 
this time had not been so lucky in his venture into the 
enemy's lines as he had been during the siege of Charles- 
town. 

General Washington, during the fall, continued his ef- 
forts to induce Congress to provide a permanent military 
force or a regular system of filling the vacant ranks with 
drafts who should join the army on the first day of Janu- 
ary in each year, but Congress was not only unable but 
unwilling to do so. A committee of cooperations, of which 
John Mathews of South Carolina was chairman, had been 
several months with the army, consulting with the Com- 
mander-in-chief and devising schemes for its reorganiza- 
tion. Hut so strong was the opposition to an3-thing like a 
standing army that the fact of their sojourn w'ith the army, 
instead of entitling the views of the committee to considera- 
tion, rendered them unpopular with some of the members, 
who charged tliem with being " too strongly tinctured with 
the army principles." ' 'J'iiere were two parties in Congress : 
one which entered fully into tlie views of the Commander- 
1 Washington's Writings, vol. VII, 220. 



848 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ill-chief ; the other, jealous of the army and appreliensive 
of its hostility to liberty when peace should be restored, 
was unwilling to give it stability by increasing its num- 
bers.^ On the one hand, it is clear from Washington's 
letters from the beginning to the end of the war, echoed 
also by Greene, that he underrated the value and efficiency 
of a volunteer force ; that his dependence was entirely 
upon a regular army of enlisted and paid soldiers. He 
placed little or no reliance upon the patriotism of a private 
soldier. He desired a strong arm}- to establish a govern- 
ment. So his friends in Congress were for founding and 
maintaining a strong and permanent army ; while on the 
other hand those who were jealous of the existence of an 
army, fearing that if independence from England was 
established by such a body that it would be the ground- 
work upon which a monarchy perhaps would be erected, 
contented themselves with opposing and thwarting all 
efforts to strengthen it, while proposing nothing them- 
selves upon which to carry on the war. 

The allied armies, Continental and Frencli, went into 
winter quarters without a battle having been fought — the 
former in such a condition of discontent as again to break 
out in open meeting in the first of the coming year. 

Writing to John Mathews on the 23d of October, 
informing him of the appointment of Greene, who had 
declined longer to act as Quartermaster General of the 
army, to tlie command of the Southern Department, Wash- 
yC^ ington observed : "• You have your wish in the oificer 
I appointed to the Southern command. I think I am giving 
you a general, but what can a general do without men, 
without arms, without clothing, without shoes, without 
provisions ? " ^ Let us compare the results of the two sys- 

1 Marshall's Life of W<is}ii)i(it<>)i. vol. IV, 202. 

2 Washington's WritiiKjs. vol. VII, 277. 



IN THK KKVOU'TrtlN 840 

terns upon wliioh the struc;<Tle for lil)erty liad l)een carried 
on North and Soutli, during this year 1780, in which the 
Southern States were regarded as conquered ; and sum up 
what liad been done in South Carolina, not only without 
enlisted or |)aid men, witliout arms, without clothing, with- 
out shoes, without i)rovisi()ns, but without even a general! 
' There had been fougiit in South Carolina during this 
year in all tlurt3'-f()ur battles, great and small, ^ including 
as one the siege of Charlestown, which lasted from the 
20lh of Mareii, when the Uritisii Heet crossed the l)ar and 
passed Fort Moultrie, to the 12th of ^lay, — that is, fifty- 
three days. /I So that during this year, wliile the Continen- 
tal army undt-r Washington was lying around New York 
in liopeless inactivity and discontent, and the French fleet 
and army cooped up harmlessly in Newport, there had 
been actual and active fighting in South Carolina for 
eighty-six days out of the three hundred and sixty-five, 
or about one day in every four. The siege of Charles- 
town, anil the accompanying affairs of Salkehatchie, Pon 
Pon, Rantowle's, Monck's Corner, and Lenuds's Ferry, 
Jiuford's (K'feat at the Waxhaws, and the battle of Cam- 
den, were battles and engagements in which Continental 
troops were engaged ; tiie other twenty-six actions were 
fought entirely b}- volunteer bands of the people organized 
under leaders for each special occasion, the unpaid men 
of the Carolinas and Georgia of whose names, even, there 
was no muster roll or record. The scene of these engage- 
ments covered, under Marion, the Horrys, and James, 
the whole country between the Pee Dee and Santee ; under 
Sumltr, Davie, IJratton, Lacey, Hill, Tayhn-, and the 

' Tliroo more ronsiilcrablc affairs were yet to take place in December, 
1780, but tliey more i)roperly belong to Greene's campaign of the next 
year, in our hislon,' of which they will be told. These were liugeley's 
Mills. December 4 ; Hanunond's Store, December 20 ; Williams's Planta- 
tion, December 31. 

VOL. HI. — 3 I 



850 



HISTOIJV OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



Hamptons, that principally between the Catawba and the 
Broad, but extending into Lancaster on the one side, and 
Spartanburg and Union on the other ; while Williams, 
Clarke, and McCall extended it from the Broad to the 
Savannah. In addition to these engagements which took 
place in South Carolina during the year, there had been 
fought just beyond the line in North Carolina the battles of 
Kamsour's Mill, Charlotte Town, and Cowan's Ford, and in 
Georgia the siege of Augusta. But restricting the exami- 
nation for the present to the operations in South Carolina 
alone, the following statistical table of the engagements 
which took place within the limits of the State will best 
illustrate the magnitude and importance of the results 
accomplished by the uprising of the people themselves 
without the aid of Congress. The engagements marked 
in Roman letters were those in which the Continental 
troops took part. Those in italics were fought by the 
partisan bands alone.// 









A 


lERICAN. 


British. 








Ct3 


L. 




a 01 


o 






Engagement. 


Date. 


i ~ 


o . 


— • 


•^"H 
5 S 


o 


Total. 








5 1 


s-S 


o 


s 1 


£.A 








ITSO 














1 


Salkehatchie 


Mar. 18 


21 




21 


2 




2 


2 


Pon Pon 


" 23 


10 


i 


14 


3 




3 


3 


Rantowle's 


" 26 








7 




7 


4 


Monck's Corner 


Apr. 12 


38 




33 


8 




3 


.') 


Siege of Charlestown 


Mar. 20-May 12 


258 


5683 


5941 


267 


20 


2S7 


C 


Lenuds's Ferry 


May l^i 


35 




35 


2 







7 


Wnxliaws, Buford's Deft. 


" 29 


26;? 




26:3 


19 




19 


8 


Wi/lidmnoii'n Pltmtiition 


July 12 


1 




1 


85 




85 


9 


linnKlon'K Camp 


" 12 


1 




1 






(routed) 


1(1 


Stiill lints' H 


" 12 








6 


28 


84 


n 


Cedtir Sjjring» 


" 13 












(several) 


1-2 


Gowen'fi Old Fort 


" 14 








4 


82 


86 


13 


Mc Dowe.W H Camp 


July l.")aijd 16 


3S 




3S 


8 




8 


14 


Fiat Rock 


July 2(t 


4 




4 


10 




10 


15 


Thicketty Fort 


" 30 










94 


94 



IN THE Ki: VOLUTION 



851 









Amkkica.n. 


Bkitibii. 




Engoguuieut. 


Date. 




s 





5l 


« 

a 
o 


Tot-xl. 






1780 














IC 


ffunVn Bluff 


Aug. 1 










100 


100 


17 


Rocky Motint 


" 1 


G 




6 


12 




12 


18 


//iini/iiii/ liock 


" 1 








60 




50 


19 


Hanging liovk 


" 6 


J(Kt 


10 


110 


150 




150 


20 


Old Iron Works 


" 8 


14 




14 


50 




50 


21 


Porfn Ferry 


" l.-i 








30 




30 


22 


Camden or Wateree Ferry 


" ir> 








7 


100 


107 


23 


Canidon 


■' 16 


ntO 


12'J0 


2070 


313 


11 


824 


24 


Fin/ting Creek 


" IS 


150 


310 


460 


10 




16 


25 


Muxgrore'fi Mills 


" 19 


13 




13 


153 


70 


223 


26 


Xelson'K Ferry 


" 20 


2 




'.' 




1S3 


1S3 


27 


Kingstree 


" 27 








15 


15 


30 


28 


Black Mingo 


Sept. 14 


50 




50 


60 




60 


29 


Tarcxite 


" 14 








26 




26 


8U 


Wahub's Plantation 


" 20 


1 




1 


60 




60 


81 


King's Mountain 


Oct. 7 


90 




90 


242 


664 


906 


82 


Finhdam 


Nov. 9 


2 




2 


21 




21 


88 


Blackstock 


" -M 


4 




■i 


192 




192 


84 


Long Cane 
Total 


Dec. 11 


21 




21 


3 




3 




1967 


7227 


9194 


1S16 


1317 


3133 



In examining thi.s table it will appear that there was no 
great (liffereiu*e in the losses in killed and wounded during 
this time in the two armies, the Americans having lost 
1907 and the British 1816, — the small difference of 151 
being in favor of the British, — while in prisoners the 
Americans lost 7227, the British but 1317. This is in some 
measure accounted for by the number claimed as soldiers 
taken in arms by the British ui)on the fall of Charlestown 
and who are thus describcfl bv (teneral Moultrie : — 



"The next day," that is the day after the surrender, "the militia 
were ordered to parade near Lynch's pasture and to bring all their 
arms with tlieni, guns, swords, pistols, &c., and those that did not 
strictly comply were threatened with having the grenadiers turned in 
aiming tin-in; this threat hroiight out the aged, the timid, the disaf- 



852 



HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



fected, the iufinn ; luauy ol them had never appeared during the whole 
siege, which swelled the number of militia prisoners at least three 
times the number of men we ever had on duty. I saw the column 
inarch out and was surprised to see it so large, but many of them we 
had excused from age and infirmities ; however, they would do to 
enroll on a conqueror's list." ^ 

Among these doubtless were included the two hundred 
addressers to Sir Henry Clinton, who declared themselves 
loyal subjects, lint however this may have been, it will 
be observed that the great losses of the Americans took 
place in the siege and fall of C'harlestown, the massacre 
of Buford's party in the Waxhaws, the battle of Camden, 
and the surprise at Fishing Creek. The first three of these 
were instances in which Continental officers commanded. 
Indeed, upon an analysis of these figures some curious 
facts will appear. IfYhe following table will show the casual- 
ties in both armies which occurred in battles in which Con- 
tinental troops engaged the British : — 









A.MKRU AN. 


B 


RITISl 


. 




Engagement. 


Date. 




3 
c 

? 


i 

o 


1^ 
^ — 


a 

a 
o 


2 
"o 






ITM) 














1 


!^alkch;itchie (Lincoln) 


Mar. IS 


21 




21 


2 




2 


2 
3 


Pon Pom (Lincoln) 
R.intowle's (Lincoln) 


" 23 
" 2G 


10 


4 


14 


4 
7 




3 
7 


4 


Monck's Corner (Lincoln) 


.Xpr. 12 


.SS 




88 


3 




3 


:, 


Siefre ofCliiirlestown (Lincoln) 


Mar. 211- May 12 


258 


5083 


5941 


207 


20 


287 


6 


Lcnuds's Kerry (Lincoln) 


May IS 


85 




35 


2 




2 


7 


Waxhaws, Huford's Deft. (Lin 


















coin) 


•' 29 


20:3 




203 


10 




19 


8 


Camden (Gates) 


An-. 10 


850 


1220 


2070 


318 


11 


824 




Total 




1470 


0907 


8.377 


CIO 


.31 


647 



The regularly organized armies under the Continental 
generals, Lincoln and (iatcs, lost in killetl and wounded 
1 M(ju]tries Memoirs, vol. II, lOG-107. 



IN THE KEVULUTION 



853 



1470 men, and in prisoners 6907, in all 8377- The British 
lost in the engajj^enients with these generals 616 killed and 
wounded and -U [)risoners, in all 647. In these battles 
the British had ohtained the great advantage in killed and 
wounded of 854, and in prisoners taken of 6876, in all 
of 7730. "The next table will show how much the partisan 
leaders had done to correct this balance : — 





\, 






American. 


British. 




\ 






■0_; 


£ 




-g . 


t 






Engogelpent. 


Commander. 


Date. 




3 


_• 


"% ^ 


3 . 


ToUl. 




) 






-^ 3 

5 ? 


'Z 'f- 


:- 


= 3 


Il 








17S0 














1 Williamson's Plantation 


Bratton, Lacey 


July 12 


1 




1 


85 




85 


'•i 1 Hnindon's Camp 


Brandon 


" 12 


1 




1 






(routed) 


8 Stallions's 


Brandon 


" 12 








6 


28 


84 


4 Cedar Sprinffs 


Thomas 


" 13 












(several) 


S Gowan's Old Fort 


Jones 


" 14 








4 


82 


86 


6 McDow ell's Camp 


McDoweU 


"15,16 


38 




88 


8 




8 


7 Flat Hock 


Davie 


" 20 


4 




4 


10 




10 


b Thirkitly Fort 


McDowell 


" 80 










94 


94 


9 Hunt's Bluff 


GUlesple 


Aug. 1 










100 


100 


1(1 Uooky Monnt 


Sumter 


" 1 


6 




6 


12 




12 


11 llanpinf,' Kock 


DaNle 


" 1 








50 




50 


l\i nnii<;inf; Kock 


Sumter and Davie 


" 6 


100 


10 


110 


150 




150 


V.< (>1<1 Iron Works 


Clarke and Shelby 


" 8 


14 




14 


50 




50 


14 Port's Ferry 


Marion 


" 15 








30 




30 


15 Camilen or Wateree Ferrj- 


Sumter 


" 15 








7 


100 


lOT 


16 Fi>hinK Creek a 


Sumter 


" 18 


150 


310 


460 


16 




16 


17 : Musgruvo's Mills 


Shelby, Clarke, 
and Williams 


" 19 


13 




13 


153 


70 


223 


IS Nelson's Ferry 


Marlon 


" 20 


2 




2 




183 


183 


!!• Kliijrstree 


Marion 


" 27 








15 


15 


30 


'2<> Itlack Minf^o 


Marion 


Sep. 14 


50 




50 


60 




60 


21 Tarcoto 


Marion 


" 14 








26 




26 


22 Wahub's Plantation 


Davie 


" 20 


1 




1 


60 




60 


23 Kin^r's Mountain 


Campbell 


Oct. 7 


90 




90 


242 


6IU 


906 


24 Flshdam 


Sumter 


Nov. 9 


2 




2 


21 




21 


2.'. ] niackstock 


Sumter 


" 20 


4 




4 


192 




192 


26 


Long Cane 
Total 


Clarke 


Dec. 11 


21 




21 


3 




8 




497 


820 


817 


1200 


1286 


2486 



» Fishing Croek, in which so great a loss to the .\mericans ()ocnrre<l, is placed in the list 
ol" batllei by partisan corp.s becaiive the party was roininnnded by Siiiiiler. and composed 
mostly of his men ; but Colonel Woolfonl and four hundred Continental infantry were with 
the party. 



854 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

From the 12th of July — that is, the day after the French 
fleet and army had arrived at Newport, when Bratton 
and Lacey had surprised and destroyed the Britisli party 
under Muck at Williamson's plantation — to the affair at 
Long Cane on the 11th of December, that is, in five months, 
the partisan bands in South Carolina under their own 
chosen leaders had fought twenty-six battles, inflicting a 
loss upon the British forces of 1200 in killed and wounded 
and 1286 in prisoners, in all of 2486, at a loss to them- 
selves of but 497 killed and Avounded and 320 in prisoners, 
in all of 817; that is to say, they had killed, wounded, 
and taken prisoners of the enemy more than three times 
as many as the enemy had of themselves. It was this 
uprising of the people of North and South Carolina and 
Georgia, aided in one instance, that is at King's Mountain, 
by a party of Virginians, that after the battle of Camden 
had detained Cornwallis in the Waxhaws, and then at 
Charlotte forced him back from Charlotte to Winnsboro, 
and necessitated his change of Leslie's movements, requir- 
ing Leslie to come to Charlestowai and thence to his own 
support instead of attempting, as was intended, the junc- 
tion of the two armies in North Carolina or Virginia. 
The British plan of campaign for this year, which will be 
readily recognized, as we have observed before, as the 
prototype of that of the winter of 1865 during the late 
war between the States, was thus disarranged and broken 
up by the partisan bands in South Carolina. The French 
army and fleet blockaded in Newport, Washington lay 
with the discontented, and at times mutinous, skeleton of 
an army in New Jersey, while the naval superiority of the 
British in American waters enabled them to reenforce 
Cornwallis from tlie Chesapeake, as Terry reenforced 
Sherman from Wilmington in 1865. Could Cornwallis 
liave made his anticipated triumphal march from Camden 



IN rnK uicvoLL'TioN Sho 

to Viririnia, there joined by Leslie, he would have had bui 
to inareh upon Hulliuiore, the objective point of the cam- 
paign, and thence to Philadelphia, ^ and Washington, be- 
tween Sir Henry < 'linton in New York and the British army 
advancing from I'hihidelphia, must have fallen as Lee did 
between Grant and Sherman. Time was all-important ; 
for the British now Iiad the naval command of the Amer- 
ican shores, but another French fleet was hoped for by 
the Americans, and feared by the British. If this should 
come — as come it did the next year — and recover the 
command of the waters, then Uochambeau would be 
released, and Sir Henry Clinton confined to New York 
as Uochambeau now was to Newport. To detain Corn- 
wallis in South Carolina, therefore, until the other 
French fleet arrived, was of the utmost importance to 
the American cause. To detain him here and break up 
the plan of junction with Leslie across North Carolina, 
was the salvation of the country. This the voluntary 
uprising in the extreme Southern States, and the partisan 
battles fought in South Carolina, accomplished. Leslie's, 
army of 2300 men, with which he arrived in Charlestownj 
in December, did not quite replace the 2486 whom the 
j)artisan soldiers had killed, wounded, and taken. ^ 

' Sir Henry Clinton writes to Lord Cornwallis June 1, 1780, "Our 
first object will probably be the taking post at Norfolk or Suffolk, or near 
the Hampton Road, and then proceeding up the Chesapeake to Balti- 
more." — Clinliin-t'ornwallis Controversi/, vol. I, 214. 

2 Colonel Chesney of the British army, in his essay on ''Cornwallis 
ami the Indian Services," in passing thns comments on this campaign of 
his illustrious kinsman: '-From the day . . . that Britain lost the con- 
trol of the ocean, which divided her from her revolted colonies, the war 
could have but one result. A success on Cornwallis's part in Virginia 
might have added to his laurels already gained in New Jersey and the 
Caroliuiis, but would only have delayed the issue for a little space. Such 
a free conununication as the Federal fleets had along the coast of the 
rt-volti-d Stales during the Civil War, was equally needed in our case. 



856 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

South Carolina had in 1780 suffered ah-eady more than 
any other State ; hut lier cup of woe was not yet full. 
She was overrun, and her soil from the mountains to the 
seaboard was wet with the blood of her sons, some of 
which had been fratricidally shed ; but she was not con- 
quered. 'J'hc Avar had not been brought on by her leaders; 
they had been imperceptibly drawn into it. The people 
of the section in which most of these battles had taken 
place, and in which it now was most ruthlessly waged, had 
been opposed to it. Ikit the victorious British army in 
the year 1780 had converted to the cause of America 
thousands who would not follow the leaders in the Revo- 
lution. The people who stood listless and indifferent 
to the appeals of Tennent in 1775, had left their fair fields 
in the Waxhaws on the Catawba and on the Broad and 
were now following Sumter. Those who had resented 
Drayton's proclamation, were now coming out under 
Pickens.^ 

Without it Siierinan's overland march from Savannah, made eighty years 
afterwards, might have had little better issue than that of Cornwallis 
through precisely the same district. With such aid tins modern com- 
mander established his fame, as the elder, for lack of it, came nigh to 
ruin his reputation." — MiUlnry Biogrnplvj, by Colonel Charles Cornwallis 
Chesney, Colonel in the Eritish army, etc. (1874), 29(3. 

1 Lord Cornwallis writes to Sir Henry Clinton on the od of December, 
1780: "Bad as the state of our affair^ was on the northern frontier, 
the eastern part was nuich worse. Colonel Tynes, who commanded the 
militia of the high hills of Santee, who was posted on Black Kiver, was 
surprised and taken, and his men lost all tluir arms. (\)l(iin'l .Marion 
had so wrought on the minds of the peojjlc, partly by the terror of his 
threats and cruelty of his punislunenls, and partly by promise of plunder, 
that there wii.s scarce an inhabitant between the Santee and Pee Dee that 
was not in arms against us ; some parties had even crossed the Santee, 
and carried terror to tlie gates of Charlestown." — (Ihiton-CormrnUis 
Coiilriirrvfi)/, vol. I, ;]04. 

AuMin on .January (i, 1781, liis lordship writes to Sir Henry: "The 
dithcullies 1 have had to struggle with have not been occasioned by the 



IN THK KEV(JLrTIOX 857 

Cliarlestown, the only city in America to endure a Brit- 
ish siege (luring the war, was now occupied by British 
troops and rnU-d hy Balfour, an officer who reserved his 
valor for the op[)ression of defenceless men, unprotected 
womi'u, and innocent ciiildren. But Balfmir could not 
(luill the spirit of his prisoners, however much he might 
curtail their liberties and despoil them of their [)roi)erty. 
Henry Laurens was in the Tower of London, Christopher 
Gadsden was in a dungeon in the Castle at St. Augustine, 
whither forty-three other principal citizens of the State 
had been sent in exile in August, and where in November 
twenty-two more had been added to their company.^ 

The sword, the torch, the gallows, dungeon, and exile, 
far from subduing the spirit of the people, were uniting 
them in resistance. In the beginning of the year Sir 
Henry Clinton had found divisions among all classes and 
in almost every household. The militia of the country 
would not come in to the defence of the town. But his 

opposite army. Tlay always keep at a considerable distance, and retire 
on our api)roach. But the constant incursions of refugees, North Caro- 
linians and back innuntain-inen, and the perpetual risings in the different 
parts of the province, the invariable successes of all these parties against 
our militia, keep the whole country in continual alarm, and render the 
assistance of regular troops everywhere necessary. Your Kxcellency will 
judge of this by the disposition of the troops which I have the honor to 
enclose to you." — Ibid., .315. 

1 The names ot these were : Joseph Bee, Richard Beresford, Benjamin 
Cudworth, .John Berwick, Henry Crouch, John iSplatt Cripps, Edward 
Darrell, Daniel de Sau.s.sure, George A. Hall, Thoma-s Grimball, Noble 
Wimberly Jone.s, William Lee, William Logan, Arthur Middleton, Chris- 
topher Peters, Benjamin Postell, Samuel Prioleau, Philip Smith, Benja- 
min Waller. James W^akefield, Edward Wcyman, and Morton Wilkinson. 
With tliese were also sent General Uutlierford and Colonel Isaacs of the 
State of North Carolina. Colonel Joseph Kershaw was sent to the Britisii 
Honduras, and Captain Ely Kershaw to B(>rnmda. but died en route from 
New I*rovidence to Bermuda. Su. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette. Dec. 1(5, 
1780. 



858 msToitv OF SOUTH Carolina 

conduct and that of liis successor, Lord Cornwallis, had 
produced a violent revulsion of sentiment. The advent 
of Pickens, with his solemn message to the British vulers, 
was an indication of the ultimate result of the conduct 
they had pursued. Rather than submit to the arrogance 
of Balfour, the licentiousness of Hanger, the cruelty of 
Wemyss and of Tarleton, those who had before been in- 
different to the American cause prepared themselves to 
challenge the penalties of Cornwallis's vengeful proc- 
lamations. 

Thus ended alike the year and the campaign of 1780. 
The new year is to be full of equalh^ stirring events, and 
for two more is the war to continue on Carolina soil. 
The coming campaign in the South is to be conducted on 
the American side by General Nathanael Greene, who has 
now assumed command in the Southern Department, in 
the place of the unfortunate Gates. Of this campaign 
much has already been written, but all in eulogy of that 
officer. There is another side we think to this, however, 
which should be presented in justice to the partisan lead- 
ers of South Carolina and their gallant bands, and this 
we shall attempt in another volume, which is necessary to 
complete the History of South Carolina in the Revolution. 



INDEX 



Abandonment of Southern Colonies, 
rumor ..f, .Ul, r>:<S, -).•«», 540, .^)41, ")42, 
."Vt;;: allii.icd to. S14. 

Abbeville County, uu'iitioncd, 10; ]5rit- 
isli line ilirouj;!!, r>('>:i. 

Abbot, Captain, (Br.) navy, calls upon 
citizens arrested by Cornwallis to 
j;ive new paroles, 725. 

Abjurat in of the King, ordinance 
establisliins an oath for, 21;?, 214. 

Abney. Nathaniel, Captain at Ninety- 
Six, '.II. 

ActSBon, (Br.) sloop of war, takes part 
in battle of Fort Moultrie. 150, 151. 
l.W, 15."{: runs aground, l.>4; is set 
on lire and abandoned, KiO; while 
on fire boarded by Milligan and is 
blown up, 1()0. 

Adair. John, entry taker, loans public 
money to Colonel Sevier for King's 
Mountain expedition. 758. 

Adair. William, iind two sons present 
ai lliii k's defeat, 5!I5. 

Adams. Ephraim, wounded at Beau- 
fort, .uo. 

Adams, John, urges establishment of 
State goveruuients, 105; his repre- 
sentation in regard to John Rutledge, 
10(5, 107 ; his accounts of the condi- 
tion of parlies in (^ongress, 104, 105 ; 
his position in regard to Revolution. 
IW}, KJit; letter to his wife on inde- 
pendency, 175; estimate of British 
troops. 2*.K>; opposed to long enlist- 
menls, 21i'.i. 

Alexander, Colonel, imprisoned by 
I.or.l Kaw.l..ii, C.l'.t. 

Alexander. Captain John, cruel treat- 
ment of, by Browne, 7-'!'.l. 

Alexander. Captain Samuel, cruel 
treatment of. by Browne, 7;ii). 

Allaire. Lieutenant Anthony, (Br.) Ad- 
jutant to Ferguson's corps, 787, 788. 



Allegiance. Ordinance of, enacted, 200 ; 
ditliculty of enforciiig, 207; Presi- 
dent Lowndes issues proclamation 
extending time under, 208; mob 
tears iiroclamation from sheriff's 
hands, 208, 20il, 270, 271, 272, 273, 
274. 

Allen, Lieutenant Colonel Isaac, Second 
New .lersey Loyal X'olunteers, coin- 
mands British force in battle of Long 
Cane, 8">1, 8.S2. 

Alston, Captain John, orders to detach, 
to take part in attackou J^ong Lsland, 
144. 

Ancrum, Major, volunteer, severely 
woiunled at Stono, .'JitO. 

Anderson County, mentioned, 10. 

Anderson, John, Captain at Ninety- 
Six, 111. 

Anderson. Robert, Captain at Ninety- 
Six, 01. 

Anderson, Lieutenant Colonel, opposes 
capitulation of Charlestown, 405. 

Andre. Major John, spy in Charlestown, 
4S7; returns of prisuuers made by, 
.507. 

Andrews. Captain Samuel, hanged by 
Lord Cornwallis. 711. 

Anthony. Captain, successful cruise in 
private armed vessel, .'598. 

Anthony. John, wounded at Beaufort, 
340. 

Arbuthnot. Admiral Mariot, arrives 
in New York with tleet and fresh 
troops, 420; sails with Sir Henry 
Clinton for Charlestown, 427, 4.'>0, 
431 ; crosses the bar and passes Fort 
Moultrie, 4,50, 400; joins Clinton in 
summoning Lincoln to surrender. 
4(il,4(i2; joins Clinton in proclama- 
tion, .551 ; joined by Admiral Graves, 
blockades French fleet, 840. 

Ardesoif, Captain, (Br.) navy, issues 



859 



8H0 



INDPLK 



procliuiiation. G47 ; Major James's 
interview witli, (i47, t'AX. 

Armand.Colonel Charles Trefin.France, 
Gates's insulting orders to, (ilJO; 
marches in advance, retreats, 
(>73. 

Armstrong, Brigadier General John, 
arrives in Charlestown, takes com- 
mand, l.'>7. 

Armstrong, Major, North Carolina 
militia, takes part in battle of Cam- 
<len, ()75. 

Armstrong, Robert, Lieutenant of 
Regulars, 14. 

Ashby, Anthony, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14. 

Ashby, Captain Richard, present at 
battle of Fort Moultrie, 14;i. 

Ashe, Brigadier General John, of North 
Carolina, eomniaiid of troops called 
out, ;U4; responds to call for assist- 
ance from South Carolina, 3151 ; is 
attacked and defeated by General 
Pre'vost, .343, 344. 

Ashley (or Bee's) Ferry, Prevost 
crosses at, .35.'), .3ij0, 357; Sir Henry 
Clinton crosses same, 453. 

Atkinson, Joseph, arrested by order of 
Coruwallis, 717. 

Augusta, siege of, 733, 734, 735, 736, 
7:;7, 7.!S, 7.39. 

Ayer, Hartwell, rescues his brother 
Thomas, the tragedy if, (i4.'>, ()44. 

Ayer, Thomas, his capture, his rescue, 
(143, 044. 

Baddely, John, Ensign of militia, 12. 

Bailey, Lieutenant, killed at Savau- 
nah, 417. 

Baird, Sir John, takes part in capture 
of Savannah, 32!); in battle of Brier 
Creek. :!41. 

Baker, Lieutenant Richard B., present 
at battle of Fort .Mcuiltrie, 14:1. 

Balfour, Lieutenant Colonel Nisbet. 
(Br.) army, meiitioiu'd, .347; article 
published Royal Guzctte by his 
order, 555; stationed at Ninety- 
Six, 5f)2; mentioned, 007: comman- 
dant of Charlestown, sketch of, 
715; memorial of prisoners to, 71!'; 
curt reply to Moultrie's protest 
against arrest of citizens, 722. 



Ballendine, Colonel Hamilton, alleged 
e.xi'cution of, 437, 4."'>S. 

Ball's, Elias, plantation, AVambaw, 
British i)()stal. 41t4. 

Ball, John Corning, commands party 
of Tories at Black Mingo, defeated 
by Marion, 749. 

Barnes, Mr., desperately wounded at 
John's Island, 397. . 

Barnwell County, mentioned, IQ.U T 

Barnwell, Edward, confiued on British 
prison ship, 397. 

Barnwell, John, Captain of Regulars, 
14; takes part in seizure of powder, 
18, 19; reeuforces Fort Johnson, (J9; 
captain of militia distinguished at 
battle of Beaufort, .340; at Charles- 
town, Prevost's invasion, 3()4; his 
company captured, 397 ; confined on 
prison ship, 397. 

Barnwell, Robert, severely wounded, 
397: ciintined on prison ship, 397. 

Barrington, Lord, statement in Parlia- 
ment as to measures for coercing 
America, 128, 12'.t. 

Baskins. Captain James, accompanies 
JMcCall in attempt to capture Cam- 
eron, is wounded, 189. 

Battles and Engagements, statistical 
tables of, during 1780, 850, 851, 
8.52, 853. 

Baxter, Colonel John, aceotupanies 
Marion into Nortli Carolina, 701. 

Baylor's Horse, remains of, part 
of 'Washington's command, 451; 
strength of, 837. 

Beaufort County, mentioned, 10. 

Beaufort, battle at, 339, 340; post es- 
tablished at, ;!92. 

Beckham's Old Field, Tories dispersed 
at, .^SS. 

Bee, Joseph, exile to St. Augustine, 
857. 

Bee, Thomas, on Committee of Pro- 
vincial Congress and Committee of 
Safety, 5; for moderate measures, 
30, 31 ; drafts petition against ob- 
struction of bar, 71; on committee 
to i>repare plan of governments, 110 ; 
member of Legislative Council, 115; 
Lieutenant Governor, 2.S1 : assumes 
responsibility in absence of Rutledge, 



INDKX 



HOI 



351 , .'{.">2 ; nipmber of oouncil on ca- 
pil Illation, '.'HVI; nioiitiiuunl, 4."i(); 
mc'inbcr of C'>njir('ss in I'liilailol- 
pliia. •!<>.") : joins Matiiows in prolt'si 
afjainst saciirice of Sonthern States 
for in(lt']>i'n<K'nc'e of oilicrs, 540. 
Beekman, Barnard, Captain Lientcn- 
ant of artillery company, 12: Major 
of arlillory, S2; Colonel, attends 
iimncil of war, 472; opposes snrren- 
(Icr tif Cliarlestown, 4'.t5. 
Bclin, Allard. an aililresser, .">•"><!. 
Benison. Major, one of Marion's olli- 

fcrs, nu'iitioneil, 701. 
Benson. Major, (Br.) army, citizens 
arrested nndor dircelion of, 71(): 
presents paper to jirisoners on guard : 
ship Sdi'.du'iclt, 719. 
Beraud. Captain, present at siege of 
Ninety-Six, '.KJ; wounded at Savan- 
nah. 417. I 
Beresford, Richard, exile to St. Augus- 
tine, ,s,")7. I 
Berkeley County, military district, 10. ' 
Berwick, John, exile to St. Augustine, 

S."i7. 
Bett, Captain, (Br.) naval officer com- 
mands guard ship Sandnlch on 
board which citizens are placed, his 
courteous conduct to them, 717, 71'.>, 
724. 
Bickerstafi's Old Field, execution of 

T.iries at, NO.".. 
BidJle, Commodore, of the RanxJolph 
Contineiit.il frigate, 217: battle with 
British ship Yttrntoiith, is blown 
up, j;'..!. 2:>4. 
Black Miago, affair at, 74'.t, 7.")0. 
Blackstock, battle of, 827, 828, 829, 

s:'A). 
Blake. Captain Edward, directs the 
sinking of hulks in Cliarlestown 
harbor, 7(i, 77 ; arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, .sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717, 718, 71'.t. 
Blake, John, Ensign <>f militia, 12; 
Lieutenant of Regulars, 14 ; Cajjtain, 
present at battle of Fort Moultrie, 
143. 
Bland's Horse, (larl of Colonel Wash- 
ington's command, 451 ; strength of, 
837. 



Blockade of Charlestowp, 21f>: block- 

ade-rniiniiig, 22(1, 221. 
Bockman, Jacob, arrest of, ordered, 

88. 
Bond, George Padon, Lieutenant Colo- 
nel of militia, 12. 
Bonneau. Elisha, tiikes iirotection, 7"_!). 
Bonnell, Jacob, takes protection, 72'.l. 
Borquin, John Lewis, Major of militia, 

12. 
Boston, siege of, mentioned, 'I'.'O. 
Bowie, Captain John, at Ninety-Six, 

'.tO; takes part in treaty with AVill- 

iams(.n, Dl, '.'2. 
Bowman. Captain, (^f Hogan's North 

Carolina brigade, killed 4.V). 
Boyd. Colonel, Tory, of North Carolina, 

embod'es Li>yalists. 3."57 : Pickens 

attacks and defeats him, .i.'.S. 
Boykin, Captain, arrested by Lord 

Raw<lon, tU'i. 
Boykin. Francis, Lieutenant of Rang- 
I ers, 14. 
'Bradford, Governor, of Connecticnt, 

mentioned. 74. 
Bradley, Jamss, ai rested by Lord 
I Rawdon, (ill). 
I Bradley, Matthew, killed by Tories, 

I cm. 

; Bradley, Thomas, killed by Tories, (iaO. 

Brandon. Colonel Thomas, lakes part 
in battle of Runisour's Mill, .58.": hi : 
camp attacked and routed, ttO; 
attacks Tories at Stallious and takes 
prisoners. (JOl ; takes part in liatileof 
jMusgrove's Mil's, fJSS : j(;ins Will- 
iams, raising men in North taroliaa, 
7()'.l: disappears with Williams, 771, 
772, 77;'-: mentioned. 79(1. 

Brandywine, battl M.f. m 'utioned. 22!'. 

Bratton, Colonel William, j lins Sumter, 
■">77 ; disperses Tories at IMobley':; 
Jleeting-liouse, .")88; his address ;:! 
Bullock's Creek, .^Si), .T.MI ; atl:ic!.,\ 
and defeats Hack, 5'.»-l, .-.'.15, ,T.i(i. 5<.i7, 
.V.KS, rtW: present at battle <f Fi: 1:- 
dam, 821, 822. 8'2.".: tak( s part in 
battle of rdackstock, 82(1, 827, 828: 
mentioned, 849. 

Bratton. Mrs., noble conduct, .V.Ki. 5"."8. 

Brevarrl. Colonel Hugh, of North Can - 
lin I, Tori.M attempt to capture, 5M. 



862 



INDEX 



Brewton, John, Lieutenant of militia, 
11. 

Brewton, Miles, member of committee 
of Provincial ConRress, o; enter- 
tains Lord William Campbell, 7, 9; 
sent to Savannah to obtain powder, 
20; for moderate measures, 150, 81; 
leaves the province and is lost at 
sea, 18:3, 184, 5:i4. 

Bristol, Rhode Island, mentioned, 74. 

Bristol, British Ship, takes part in 
battle of Fort Moultrie, 140, 149, 150, 
151. 155, 1.5(;, 159. 

Brockington, John, Tory officer, men- 
tioned, 74.S. 

Brown, Hugh, arrest of, ordered, 88, 
95. 

Brown, Richard, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14 ; wounded at Beaufort, '.HO. 

Browne, Thomas, Tory, his cruel 
treatment, tarred and feathered, 35, 
36 ; meets commissioners to the inte- 
rior, 43, 44, 45 ; Colonel of Tory regi- 
ment of Rangers, 201 ; at the siege 
of Savannah, 411 ; stationed at Au- 
gusta, 562; at Hanging Rock, 626; 
takes part in battle there, t>28; exe- 
cutes five prisoners, 732; besieged 
at Augusta, 734, 735 : is severely 
wounded, 7.'-'); but maint^iins the 
defence, 737; is relieved, and im- 
mediately executes wounded prison- 
ers in revenge, 737; turns other 
prisoners over to Indians, 738. 

Brownfield, Dr. Robert, present at 
Buford's defeat, 520. 

Bryan, Jonathan, of Georgia, per- 
suades General Lee to expedition 
against Florida, 202. 

Bryan, Colonel, of North Carolina, 
Davie attacks and defeats party of 
his Loyalists, 620, ■()23; his regiment 
forms part of garrison of Hanging 
Rock,(;2(;. 

Buckholts, Abraham, ^Nlajor of militia, 
12. 

Budd, Dr. John, Surgeon of regiment 
of artillery, 82; arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717, 718, 71it. 

Buford, Lieutenant Colonel Abraham, 
with 400 Yirginiaus at Nelsou's 



Ferry, 488 ; fails to support Colonel 
White, 493, 4!>1 ; is pursued by Tarle- 
ton, 517 ; overtaken and his com- 
mand cut to pieces, 519, 520, .521, 
522, 523, 524 ; strength of his com- 
mand, 837. 

Bull, Fenwicke, threatened with tar 
and feathers, 58: to make favor re- 
ports conversation between Cai)tain 
Tolemache and Lord William Camp- 
bell. 99. 

Bull, Stephen, Colonel of militia, 12; 
on committee on state of colony, 73; 
member of Legislative Council 
under new constitution, 115: takes 
part in Howe's invasion of Florida, 
322 ; appointed Brigadier General, 
,331 : t.akes part in battle of Beau- 
fort, 339; letter to Moultrie, 342; 
not mentioned after Pre'vost's , in- 
vasion, 526. 

Bull, Lieutenant Governor William, 
mentioned, 7: report on militia 
cited, 11; is requested to sign Asso- 
ciation, refuses, but is not disturbed, 
29, .30; meutioned, 53, 535. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, mentioned, 2, 
161. 

Burgamy, John, hanged by Browne at 
Augusta. 737. 

Burgoyne, General John, campaign of, 
referred to, 230. 24(i, 420, 421. " 

Burke, Thomas, member of Conti- 
nental Congress for North Caro- 
lina, letter to Henry Laurens, 315, 
316. 

Bush, Lieutenant, mortally wounded 
planting colors on redoubt at Savan- 
nah, 415. 

Butler, Major Pierce, Adjutant Gen- 
eral, estimate of forces at Charles- 
town, May. 1779, 366. 

Butler, General, of North Carolina, 
commands militia at battle of Cam- 
den, 677. 

Caithness, Earl of, wounded at siege of 
Charlostowu, 4.">5. 

Caldwell, John, Major of militia, 12, 
Captain of Rangers, 14: garrisons 
Fort Charlotte, .37: Robert Cuning- 
liani arrestt'd (Ui his affidavit, .S6. 

Calhoun, Ensign Patrick, accoiupa- 



INDEX 



863 



nies McCall on attempt to capture 
Campion, is killed. lS!t. 1!I0. 

Calvert, John, woiiiidfil at Beaufort, 
.'.in. 

Camden, battle of, (KJC, CCT, GlW, (WiO, 
liT ) tiTl. (172, ()7;?, (174, (>7r>, (>7(), ()77, 
ii7s. CT'.t, (ISO. 

Camden, iiiililai y district, 10. 

Cameron, Alexander, Lieutenaut of 
Kaiiizcrs. 14. 

Cameron, Alexander, Indian agent, de- 
si.iiii to captun-, ISi), UK). 

Cameron, Captain, Seventy-first Regi- 
ment (Br.), takes part in capture of 
Savannah, .Sl»7. 

Camp, Lieutenant (!>r.), wounded at 
.Mn>;-r..v<-'s Mills, (i<«. 

Campbell, Colonel Archibald, expedi- 
tion from New York .sails under. 
IVio; arrives at Savannali, its eoni- 
position, .Viti; sails up Savannah, 
effects landing, ^'27; attacks and 
defeats Howe, takes Savannah, •i'M, 
32!l; Frevost forms junction with, 
XV>; expedition to Augusta, X^i, 
:{."7; recalled, relieved of command, 
liis high character. ;i;>!l; mentioned, 

.144, .•;4t;. 

Campbell, Captain (Hr ), wounded at 
('harloiir, 74.'.. 

Campbell, Captain Charles (Br.), 
wounded ai Miisi;rove's Mills. <)'.t3. 

Campbell, MacCartan, Captain of mili- 
tia. 11. 

Campbell, Michael, wounded at Beau- 
fori. :U0. 

Campbell, Lord William, Governor, 
mentioned, 2; arrival .-md reception 
of, <!, 7; receives address of Provin- 
cial Congress, S, !i : rejM-nts doing.so, 
'.I, 10: corresponds with Colonel 
Fletchall, ;t'.i; fails to seize oppor- 
tunity, 40; speech to General As- 
sembly, 5;?, 54: sends message to 
House of Commons, riS); Commons 
answers, (!0, til : correspondence 
with friends in ba<-k country. (>4; 
receives Kirkland.and sends himon 
Tamar. sloop of war.tM : is deceived 
by Captain McKonald, and his cor- 
respondence with back country ex- 
posed, G4, Go; takes refuge on 



Tamar, (Vy,&7,C>S; dissolves General 
Assembly, t)H; courtesy extended to 
him, 8.'? ; Drayton's treaty to be sub- 
mitted to, *J2; Matthew Fh)yd 
brings treaty, his conduct thereon, 
93, !)4 ; results of same. IMj; sails 
away in Tamar, 101, 102; men- 
tioned, 104, 10,"); joins Sir Peter 
Parker, lol, 132; offers to serve 
under Sir Peter, l.'W; commands 
lower deck of Bristol in battle of 
Fort Moultrie, is mortally wounded, 
15"); fleet sails, carrying him away, 
20."). 
Campbell, Lady, mentioned, 7; refuses 
to receive chariots and horses seized 
by militia but returned by council, !>!>. 
Campbell, Colonel William, Shelby ap- 
peals to join movement against 
Ferguson, 75S ; hesitates, 7.")!t ; at Syc- 
amore Shoals with Virginia militia, 
7()0; appointed to command, 7f)2,7<);5. 
78:?, 784 ; meets Gilmer, the spy, 78."), 
78(); leads the right line at battle of 
King's Mountain, 787, 78!); ad- 
dresses the men, 7tX); makes all 
the arrangements for battle. 7!W: be- 
gins the attack. 7111 : throws olT his 
coat, shouts to his men, 792 : se('nres 
the summit of hill, 794: Ferguson 
pushes his men back with bayonet, 
79"); hard pressed. 797; Tories give 
way, 797; De Peyster complains to, 
800 ; marches away, 804 ; thanks of 
Congre-ss to. 804, 80."). 

Campbells, three, at Huck's defeat, 
.".9."!. 

Candler, Major William, of Georgia 
(na)iii' inissjx'llcd in text, Vhumllrr), 
joins King's Mountain expedition, 
7<>4; mentioned. 8(X); takes part in 
battle of Fishdam, ,S21. 822. 82.'!; 
takes part in battle of Blackstock, 
82(i, 827. 

Cannon, Daniel, elected represent.i- 
tive. 280. 

Cantey. Samuel, Major of militia, 12. 

Carden, Major (Hr.). Prince of Wales's 
American Kegiment, mentioned, 
(127, lit;."). 

Carey's Fort, Wateree Ferry, Sumter 
takes, 007, (308. 



864 



INDEX 



Carlisle, Lord, Peace Commissioner, 

'JM. 

Carr, Captain Patrick, of Georgia, 
takes part in battle of Blackstock, 
K'.'T. 

Caswell, General Richard, of North 
Carolina, victory over Tories at 
jNIoore's Creek, 133; expected with 
rccnfor-einents from North C.iro- 
liua, 188; joins Buford, but sepa- 
rates lr.)ni him, olT; embodies 
militia to join De Kalb, (')'u ; joins 
Gates Avilli Nortli Carolina militia, 
(jd:; ; its want of discipline, (iii.'i, ()(>4. 

Cattail, Benjamin, Caplaiu of Regulars, 
14; company reiinforces Fort John- 
son, (ii); member of council, remains 
in Charlestown with Cad.-sden, 4(r); 
taken into council of war by Gads- 
den, 47.") ; prisoner of war, r>.)4 ; esl^ate 
sequest M-cd by British, I'ZW 

Cattell, William, Captain of Regulars, 
14; Jlajor of First Regiment, IJli; 
Lieutenant Colonel, 2U1. 

Cedar Springs, first battle of, (iOS, 
(JO'.i, (110; second battle of, ():!(;, (K.T, 

(;:'.8, t;.".!i. 

Chaney, Bailey, spy imposed on Lonl 
William ( ampbell, (54, (io. 

Charlestown Library, burned, 232, 2.')3. 

Charlestown, military district of, 10, 
naval battle in harbor of, 7(), 77; 
description of harbor of, 13G; great 
battle in harbor of, l.^l-liXi ; great 
fire in, 2.32, 233; siege of, by Frevost , 
351-.37(); by Clinton and Arbuth- 
uot, 44r)-.")14; works around, thrown 
down, 812. 

Charlotte, Fort, occupied by ISLajor 
Mayson and powder taken from, 37. 

Charlotte, North Carolina, Gates's 
flight to, 74'.); British post at, 74.'>, 
74(). 

Charlton, Thomas, lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Charnock, William, Lieutenant of Reg- 
ulars, 14; at battle of Fort Moultrie, 
143. 

Chatham, Lord, last appearance, and 
dying speech of, 249, 2.")t), 2."il. 

Chatham, statue of, 2.")2; struck by 
cauuon-ball, arm shot off, 471. 



Chehohee, Indian town, destroyed by 

Williamson, ]!)7. 

Cheraw, Seventy-first Regiment (Br.) 
statione<l at, .")()2. 

Cheraws, military district of, 10. 

Cherokee Indians, uprising, of, 13(), 
187, 1.S8. 

Cherokee, (lir.) .sloop of war, arrives, 
joins the Tamir, threatens Fort 
Johnson, ()!>; takes part in naval 
engagement, 7."), 70, 77, 78, 7'.); men- 
tioned, <)8. 

Chesnut, John, imprisoned by Lord 
Rawdon, CA'.l 

Chester County, mentioned, 10. 

Chesterfield County, mentioned, 10; 
British line through, 5(i2. 

Chew, Lieutenant (Br.), wounded at 
Mu.sgrove's -Mills, (j7.'>. 

Chiffelle, Philotheos, Captain of mili- 
tia, 11. 

Christie, Colonel, of A'irginia, takes 
jiart in Williamson's expedition 
against Cherokees, T.18. 

Chronicle, Major William, of (leorgia, 
takes part at King's JMountain, 7M), 
78(;; killed, 7!t(). 

Clark, Lieutenant Colonel, of North 
Carolina, i)osted on .Sullivan's Isl- 
and to oppose British crossing, 14."), 
14() 

Clarke, Lieutenant Colonel Allured 
(Hr.^, commands at Savannah, .'.(PJ. 

Clarke, Colonel Elijah, of Geor^iia, at- 
teiMls meeting at Ninety-Six, .")2'.»; 
promises Williamson coiiperation, 
.'')2'.) ; attempts a mi>vement, but 
fails, (111; forms small party and 
joins Sumter on the Catawba, (I3.i : 
watdies Ferguson's movements, 
()34, ().■>"); with Shelby tights the 
second battle of Cedar Siwings, ('3.'"), 
(>:i(), (;37, (538, ()■'?!), ()40; with Shelby 
and Williams attacks the British at 
Mu.sgrove's Mills, (iStJ, (i87, tW!), t;',K). 
(J!)l, (i!t2, «!•.■>, OiU: learns of (Jates's 
defeat and retreats, (iil."); forms 
junction with McDowell, 731; pris- 
oners left in charge of, 7.'U: turns 
them over to Williams, 732; deter- 
mines to recover his own State, 73."«; 
is joined by McCall, 7:53 ; lays siege 



INDEX 



86n 



to AuRiista. 734. 735, 7;«i. 737, 738. 
73'.i; Ifiids piiriy of incii, wonu'ii, and 
fliililroii into Nnrtli Carolina, 740; 
Cnii^cr aticmpts pursuit of, but 
abandons it. 740; nuMitioned, 7(>4; 
concerts witli Siunti-r, attack upon 
Ninety-Six.. S24; takes i)art in battle 
of Blackstock. 82(i; with MeCall 
determines on move ajjainst Ninety- 
Six, S'M); joined by Colonel Few of 
Georijia. S;{1 ; takes part ii; battle 
of Lon-; Cane, and is wounded, 831, 
S'V2 : nuMitiohcd, S."i<). 

Clarkson, Major Matthew, aide-de- 
camp to (icnoral Lincoln, reports 
impracticable i)roposcd attack on 
British battery, 4."i(), 4.''i7 ; attends 
council, opposes surrender, 4!r>. 

Clary, Colonel, of tJeorjjia. attends 
mectin'^ at Ninety-Six. .")"_'*.•. 

Clary, Tory Colonel, nu-ntioned. ti'.)3; 
battalion of, representeil at conven- 
tion. 711. 

Cleiland, John, Surgeon Mate of Royal 
garrison, !'_'. 

Clem's Creek, Sumter's rallying 
ground. (■><)'.•, 7('>.5. 

Cleveland. Colonel Benjamin, of North 
Carolina. .McDowell sends express 
to, 731,7.>2, 7.">(); sketch of, 7.57 ; joins 
expedition against Ferguson, 7(>1 ; 
his ad Iress to his followers, 7t>3; 
strength of his party, 784; with 
others concludes to halt, 78,1; leads 
left line of attack at King's Moun- 
tain, 787 ; composition of liiscolumn. 
78'.t; mentioned, 7iK), 7'.ll ; liis speech 
to his men, 71'3 ; marches with Camp- 
bell and others into North Carolina, 
804. 

Clinton, Sir Henry, sails for Boston, 
i:'.j; joins Sir I'etcr Parker, lIKi, 
i:j."»; sends proclamation by Hag, 
140; lands force on Long Island, 
prepares to cross inlet to Sulli- 
van's Island, 14.j; attempts to 
cross, is repulsed, \'>2, l.'>.'?: sails for 
New York, takes part in battli- of 
Long Island, '2'J8; Commiindcr-in- 
chief of British forces, turns his 
Att(>ntion to the South, 423; .sails 
with Earl Cornwallis lor, lands 
3k 



on Charlestown Neck. 430, 4.31 ; 
issues proclamation. 432; calls for 
reenforcenients, i'M, i'.io; begins 
invest n)ent of city, 445. 44G; men- 
tioned. 451; joins Arbuthnot in 
summoning city to surrender, 4t>2. 
41*7 , 4'.I8, 4<»;i. .")00; accepts Lin- 
coln's surrender, 503; sends Corn- 
wallis to the interitir,515; his letter 
to Lord George Germain, 533 ; inju- 
dicious conduct, 543; inaugurates 
grand plan of campaign " from 
South to North. ".■)4(i. ."i47, 548. .54;); 
issues handbills and proclamations 
revoking paroles and re(]uiring all 
men to enroll for military duty, 
.550, 551, 552, 553;' counter revolu- 
tion caused thereby, .554; policy of 
course discussed, 5,55, .55(i, 557, 558, 
.5.5'.), 500; embarks for New York, 
501; bis i)ro>'laiua;i>)n r-^ferred to, 
710; sends Leslie to Vir;,inia, 811, 
812; returns to New Vc rk, nien- 
1 ioned, 8.!5, 8;>7, 845; mentioned, 847. 

Coast of South Carolina, d.scription 
o:. 1:15. i:!(;. 

Cochran, Robert, arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, .sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 72.'5. 

Cochran, Major (Br.), commands in- 
fantry of Tarleton's Legion, reen- 
forccs Sir Henry Clinton. 446; niis- 
ta'.cs other British parties for 
Americans, 447 ; forces the bridge 
at ^lonck's Corner, 408. 

Cocke, William (afterward U.S. 
Senator from Tennessee), takes 
l>art in capture of Thicketty Fort, 

Colleton County, military district. 

10. 

Colleton. Sir John, barbarous treat- 
ment of ladies at his plantation by 
Tarleton's men, 4(i',l, 470. 

Collins, Abraham, Tory scout, Fergu- 
son sends dispatch by, 780. 

Collins, John, wounded at Beaufort, 
;uo. 

Colson, Jacob, Captain at Ninety-Six, 
ill. 

Committees of Provincial Congress, 3, 
4,5. 



866 



ixD?:x 



Conciliatory Measures of Parliament, 

■J4(;, '_'47. li-lS. 24<l, 250, 'J.-.l, 252, 2.".:;, 
2">4, 2:..-), 2.")(;, 257, 258, 25it, 2G0, 201, 
2(;2. 2;i.!, 2(il, 2(i5. 

Confederation, President Rutledge lays 
iirtii-k'S of, before assembly, 230. 

Congress. Continental, recommends 
Provincial Conj^ress to call full and 
free representation of the people, 
lOS ; resolution (lenyins purpose of 
sacriticiug Southern States, 542. 

Connecticut Farms, destruction of, 
8:w, ,S44. 

Connecticut, quota of troops of, 289; 
population, 2'.>4 ; i-eginients of, mu- 
tiny, 84:;, 844. 

Constitution or Plan of Government of 
1776, its provisions, ll.">, 114, 115, 
122, 123; change of, 1778, 2.35, 2'M, 
237, 2.38, 23<t, 240. 

Continental Regiments, 208 ; character 
of, 200, ;ioo, .">oi, 302, ;joo. 

Contributions of South Carolina, to 
general cause, 30."., 304. 

Coosahatchie, rear-guard affair at, 
• v52. 

Corbet, Captain, 17th Dragoons (Br.), 
takes part in slaughter of Buford's 
men at Waxhaws, 521. 

Comwallis, Earl, sails for x\meriea, 
].'!(»; with Sir Henry Clinton lands 
on Long Island, 145; sails a second 
time for Charlestown, 430 ; men- 
tioned, 445; observed by Timothy 
from St. Michael's steeple, 440; 
crosses the Cooper and takes posses- 
sion of country toeastof it,48tj: sent 
by Clinton to the interior, 515; sketch 
of, 515; delayed in crossing Santee, 
flKi; finds no fault with Tarleton's 
barbarous conduct, 524 ; injudicious 
conduct of, 543; left by Sir Henry 
to carry the Mar into North Caro- 
lina, .")(il ; reginuMits and corijs con- 
stituting his command antl their 
posts, .")(i2 ; Tories rise without his 
consent, 580; receives information 
of Gates's advance, hastens to Can)- 
den, (MMj; assumes command, moves 
at once to attack (iates, (172; ma.s- 
ters situation, opens the battle, 
677 ; defeats Gates, (170 ; sends 



Tarleton to overtake Sumter and 
rescue prisoners, 081 ; reviews situ- 
ation, 703, 701, 705, 70(i ; severe 
orders issued by, 709, 710; learns 
of Ferguson's defeat and precipi- 
tately retreats, 808; ill with fever, 
800; turns command over to Raw- 
don, 800; suffers during retreat, 
810, 811. 

Council of Safety, divi.sious in, 30, 40; 
sends commissions to interior, 40, 
41. 

Couturier, Captain John, Moultrie or- 
dered to detach, to attack enemy on 
Long Island, 144 : company posted on 
Sullivan's Island, ibid.; Captain of 
dragoons, 208. 

Craigh, John, killed at Beaufort, .340. 

Craighead, Captain, wounded at Hang- 
ing Rock, 030. 

Craven County, military district, 10. 

Crawford, Lieutenant, wounded at 
Hanging Rock, (i.iO. 

Cripps, John Splatt, exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 857. 

Crosskeys, John, wounded at Beaufort, 
340. 

Crouch, Henry, exile to St. Augustine, 
8.57. 

Cruden, John, (Br.) commissioner of 
se(iuestered estates, 720. 

Cruger, Lieutenant Colonel(Br.), called 
in from Sunliury to Sa\atinali, 404; 
commands redoubt at siege of Savan- 
nah, 411; stationed at Ninety-Six, 
5(i2 ; Rawdon calls on him for reiin- 
forcemeuts, (itJS; mentioned, (ilKi; 
sends relief to Browne at Augusta, 
73(); attempts pursuit of Clarke but 
abandons it, 740; wise conduct, 834. 

Cruit, Ensign, cruel <leath of, 522. 

Cudworth, Benjamin, exile to St. Au- 
gust inc. 857. 

Culbertson, Josiah, exploit of, tVM], ()37 ; 
takes ])art in battle of Musgrove's 
Mills, (iOl, (102. 00.3. 

Cummins, Rev. Charles, preaches to 
Campbell's men at King's Mountain, 
788. 

Cuningham, family of, some account 
of, 38. 

Cuningham, Patrick, seizes ammu- 



INDEX 



867 



nition af Ninoty-Six, 38; fndoavors 
to rescue Kohcrt Ciiiiin;;liani, 87; 
seizes ainnniiiitioii on its way to the 
Indians, ihid.; arrest of, ordered. HS ; 
with Kohinsoii advaiu-es against | 
Ninety-Six, IK); enters into treaty] 
with Williamson, ;•"_' ; Richardson j 
issues prodaniatiou for his arrest, 
it'i; defeated at Great Cane Brake, 
hut escapes. !t7. 

Cuningham, Robert, seizes ammuni- 
tion at Ninely-.Six, iW; meets and 
opposes commissioners sent to the 
interior, 43,44,45; repudiates Fletch- 
all's treaty, .Vi : arrested by order 
of Major Williamson, sent to 
Cliarlestown, 8(! ; excitement caused 
by his arrest, ST; is released from 
arrest, offers his services ajjainst the 
Cherokees, is rebuffed by William- 
son, 1W,200; is made Brigadier Gen- 
eral in the British Provisional forces, 
201. 

Cuningham's Tory Battalion, conven- 
tion of. 711. 

Currency, depreciation of, 221, 222, 22;i, 
224, 22."), 22(i. 227, 228, 8.'«», 8-10. 

Cusack, Adam, execution of, by 
Wemyss, 74.S ; mentioned. 824. 

Darling, execution of, bj- Browne at 
Au;;iista. I'M. 

Darlington County, mentioned, 10. 

Darrell, Benjamin, takes protection, 
72'.i. 

Darrell, Edward, exile to St. Augustine, 
s.")7. 

Dart, Benjamin, takes protection, 72'.). 

Dart, John, lakes protection, 729. 

Davidson, Major George, takes part in 
Davie's affair at \\'ahub's planta- 
tion. 7»2.74:i. 

Davidson, William, sketch of, 570: 
tiikes part in battle of Ramsour's 
Mill, 57'.>, .584; forms i)art of Small- 
wood's i>roposed expedition. 811'. 

Davie, William Richardson, present at 
battle of .'^tono. "-S7 ; Hri^iade Major, 
severely wounded, -"IK); sin>;ular I'jii- 
sode in relation tliereto, ."{'.U ; sketch 
of, .'■>72, 57;*, 574, .575, .57ti; his the 
only organized corps, ■57<i, .577; pro- 
ceeds with cavalry to Ramsour's 



Mill,. 570. .580, .584; mentioned, filo; 
cros.ses into South Carolina, takes 
position on Clem's Creek, ()20, H21 ; 
falls upon convoy at Flat Rock and 
capturi^s it with escort, ti21, (122; at- 
tacks and defeats Bryan's Loyalists 
at Hangini; Rock, (!25 ; takes part 
with Siuuter in attack on same 
place, (i28, 020; meets Gates fleeing 
from Camden, Gates orders him 
to fall back, refuses, sends word 
to Sumter of Gates's defeat, 080; 
mentioned, 700; his little band 
mentioned, 7;U ; made Colonel with 
authority to raise a regiment, 
740, 741 ; brilliant dash at Wahub's 
plantation, 742, 74.3; falls back before 
Cornwallis's advance, 744; takes 
position at Charlotte, keeps whole 
British arniyat bay, 745; mentioned, 
75."i, 770; successful operations 
against Cornwallis's detachment, 
80<!; follows Cornwallis's retreat, 
808 ; advances to Landsford, 819; 
mentioned. 840. 

Davis, Captain William, wounded at 
Sa\auu;ili, 417. 

Davis, Sergeant, rescued by Marion, 
7(K1 

Dealy, James, tarred and feathered, 
24. 

Deane, Major, convoys baggage and 
women to Charlotte, (i04. 

Deane, Silas, arrives with treaty of 
alliance from France, 255. 

Dearing, John, wounded at Beaufort, 
•Mi). 

De Brahm, Captain, State Engineer, 
erects works on Sullivan's Island, 
145. 

Declaration of Independence, position 
of parties in regard to. H'A, 105, KHi, 
107, 108. 100. 170; votes of State 
in regard to, 170, 171 ; its ailoption, 
174: its reception in South Carolina, 
178, 170. 180, 181, 182; acquiesced in, 
as a war measure, 252. 

Defence, schooner, armed for security 
of town, 70; takes part in naval en- 
gagement. 70, 77. 78. 70. 

De Kalb, Baron, joined by Marion on 
his march to South Carolina, 577; a 



868 



INDEX 



pensioner of France, 6.""), (inO; ad- 
vances, (5r>7 ; is superseded by Gates, 
G58; coniinands riji;ht wing of Gates's 
army, tioii; opixised to battle at 
Camden, till; liis heroic conduct, 
mortally wounded, 078 ; mentioned, 
,s;!7. 

De Laumoy, Lieutenant Colonel, engi- 
neer in charge of fortitication of 
Charlestown, called in council, 472; 
advises capitulation, 47"); opinion 
of, supported by General Duportail, 
485. 

Delaware, quota of trooi^s of, 289. 

Delaware Regiment, annihilated at 
Camden. ()78. 

Dellient, Adjutant Andrew, present at 
battle of Fort Moultrie, 14:>. 

De Peyster, Captain Abraham, retreats 
from Musgrove's ]Mills,()95 ; succeeds 
to command at King's Mountain 
upon fall of Fergusou, 798; surren- 
ders, 799, 800. 

De Peyster, Captain James, captured 
by Post ell, 7.")2. 

De Saussure, Daniel, sent with letter 
to Georgia, SO; returns, 84; exile to 
St. Augustine, 8.")7. 

De Saussure, Lieutenant Louis, mor- 
tally wounded at Savannah, 417. 

D'Estaing, Count, undertakes a!id 
abandons expedition against Rhode 
Island, 277; successful expedition to 
AVest Indies, .'399 ; arrives off Charles- 
town harbor, 4O0; reports his readi- 
ness to cooperate with Lincoln in 
the reduction of Savannah, 40.'); 
disembarks his troops at Beaulieu, 
404; demands surrender of Prevost, 
405; jealousy excited at his conduct, 
405; loses a month in siege, 409; 
his conduct of it, 410, 412. 41:5; ad- 
vances to storm the works in person, 
414; twice wounded and is repulsed, 
417 : abandons the siege and reiim- 
barks, 418. 419. 

De St. Pierre, John L. du M., Lieuten- 
ant (if Fort (_:harlotle, l.'i. 

De Treville, Lieutenant, wouiuied at 
Sa vaiinali, 417. 

Deveaux, Stephen, wounded at Beau- 
fort, 340. 



Dickinson, Benjamin, Ensign of militia, 
12; Lieutenant of Regulars, 14. 

Dickinson, John, of Pennsylvania, op- 
l)oses a declaration of independence, 
108. 

Dill, Joseph, takes protection, 729. 

Dillon, Count, French officer leads 
column at Savannah, 414. 

Disestablishment of the Church, 205, 
200, 209, 210, 211. 212, 2i:i, 2:r>, 230. 

Dixon, Colonel, of North Carolina, his 
efficient conduct at battle of Cam- 
den, ()77. 

Dogharty, James, Captain of Dragoons, 
298. 

Donaldson, John, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Donnom, Captain, killed at Savannah, 
417. 

Dooly, Colonel, of Georgia, attends 
meeting at Ninety-Six to determine 
as to course of conduct, 529. 

Douglass, Alexander, killed at Beau- 
fort, 340. 

Downes, Major, relieves Fort Lindley, 
194. 

Drayton, Charles, Captain of regiment 
of artillery, 82. 

Drayton, Glen, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars. 14. 

Drayton, Stephen, estate sequestered 
by British, 729. 

Drayton, William Henry, member of 
committee of Provincial Congress, 
4, 3, 0; heads deputation of Provin- 
cial Congress to wait on and address 
Lord AVilliam Campbell, new gov- 
ernor, 7, 8; commaiuler of Brough- 
ton bastion, 13 ; letter to, in regard to 
powder, action thereon, 17, 18, 19; 
dominant in council, 22; orders 
Dealy tarred and feathered, 24, 25; 
mentioned, 20; vigorous conduct, 
30; for extreme measures, 31 ; leads 
progressive party in absence of 
Gadsden, 40; sent commissioner to 
interior, 41, 42, 43; nia<le leader 
of opposition, 43, 44, 4."); addresses 
meeiing at Siu)w Hill, 40; orders 
■Williamson to march against Kirk- 
land and issues declaration^ 47; 
orders Williamson to march against 



INDEX 



869 



Fletchall, 47; receives embassy 
from Fletchall, 4S ; ("ouncil of Safety 
hesitate t(i support hiin.4'.>: enters 
into treaty with Fletchall. ."lO, 51, r>2; 
presses vigorous measures in com- 
mittee, 71, 7'J : elected President of 
rrovini'ial Coiijiress, 72^ sends dec- 
laration of war to Captain Thorn- 
bnmgh, 74, 7."); commissioner to 
obstrnct harbor, 7<i ; takes part in 
naval en;;af;ement in harbor, 70, 77, 
78; public safety intrusted to, 80; 
letter to Council of Safely, of 
Georgia, 81 ; presses for aggressive 
measures, 82; thanked by Provincial 
Congress, 84: mentioned, !•."{; n[>- 
pointed Captain of ship Pro.spcr, 
KK); on committee on resolution of 
Continental Congress in regard to 
State government, 114, ll.">; chosen 
Chief Justice, his charge to grand 
ijury, 117, 118, 11!>, 120, 121, 122; 

/presses for change of constitution 

' and disestablishment of church, 2;?!) ; 
member of Continental Congress, 
letter to Peace Commissioners, 2t)2, 
2(i;'.; Gadsden's letter to. telling of 
action of mob, 2(18, 27(>; elected reiv 
resentatite to General Assembly 
under new constitution, 280; moves 
resolution in General Assembly of 
inquirj' as to Howe's right to com- 
mand, 'Mi; correspondence with 
Gadsden, 'Ml, 308; controversy with 
Henry Laurens, 'M'>, 'MG, 317, .{18, 
.Slil; his death, 5:54; sketch of, r>'M. 

Duane, James, letter to Schuyler, .>I1. 

Du Bose, Isaac, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
U ; present at battle of Fort Moul- 
trie. 14.!. 

Du Cambray, French engineer's opinion 
as to defence of Charlestown, 3(17 ; 
mentioned, 4.52. 

Duer, John, trial of, 'Mi',. 

Duke, Henry, hanged by Browne at 
.\u'.:iisia. 737. 

Dunbar, Thomas, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, present at battle of Fort Moul- 
trie, 143; captain at Charlestowu, 
Pre'vost's siege, •^'d. 

Dunlap, Major James (Br.), pursues 
Colonel Innea of Georgia, cuts up his 



party, severely wounds him, 014; 
attacks .Shelby and Clarke at Cedar 
Springs, is defeated, 037, 0:i8, (Wit, 
040; is severely wounded, 7.")5 ; 
plunders Pickens's plantation, 834. 

Du Pont, Gideon, Jr., an addresser, .5.'50. 

Duportail, French General of Engi- 
neers, arrives with letter from 
Washington, 484; examines works 
of Charlestowu, pronounces them 
nnteiiahle, 4S."i ; mentioned, (i55. 

Dutarque, Lewis, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Earle, Baylis, plantation mentioned, 
778. 

Eden, Governor William, Peace Com- 
missioner, 2.")0. 

Edgefield County, mentioned, 10. 

Edwards, John, teller on division in 
Assembly, 241; elected to Privy 
Council, 282; summoned to consider 
Prevost's terms of capitulation, 'M2; 
bitterly opposes surrender, 375; es- 
tate se(juest<M-ed by British, 720. 

Elbert, Colonel Samuel, of Georgia, 
takes part in Howe's invasion of 
Florida, ."■122; his brilliant eapture 
of galleys, 323; commands left wing 
at Savannah in 1778, 328. 

Elfe, Thomas, an addresser, 5'M]. 

Elkinstone, Captain, (Br.) navy, pro- 
tects troops crossing Ashley, 453. 

Elliot, Barnard, member of committee 
of Provincial Congress. 5; Lieuten- 
ant of artillery company. 12: Captain 
of Regidars, 14; conijiany at Fort 
Johnson, 07: Lieutenant Colonel of 
regimentof artillery, 82 ; mentioned, 
127 ; reads Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, 170. 

Elliot, Benjamin, course in Council of 
.Safety, :{0. 

Elliot, Mrs. Barnard, presents colors 
to .Second Regiment, 415. 

Elliot, Joseph, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
14. 

Elliot, Samuel, Lieutenant Colonel of 
militia. 12. 

Elliot, Thomas, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14. 

Elliot, Lieuteniinl of Davie's corps, 
killed, »i'23. 



870 



INDEX 



Erwin, Colonel John, retires iuto North 
Carolina with Marion, 701. 

Erwin, John, Captain at Ninety-Six, 
91. 

Essenecca, Indian town, Williamson 
ambuscaded at, lOG; town burned, 
1!)7. 

Eustash, Indian town, destroyed by 
"Willianisoii, 1!)7. 

Eveleigh, George, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars. 14. 

Eveleigh, Captain Nicholas, present at 
battle of Fort Moultrie, 14;'.. 

Exiles to St. Augustine, 717, 718, 
710. 

Fairfield County, mentioned, 10; Brit- 
ish lines through, 5t)3. 

Fair Forest, settlement of, 36, 44; 
Whig congregation at, (508. 

Falls, Captain, of North Carolina, takes 
part in battle of Ramsour's Mill, 583. 

Falmouth, bombarded, 74. 

Fanning, David, notorious Torj' of 
North (.'arolina, (JOti. 

Farr, Thomas, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
14; Speaker, captured, 445, 44(); ar- 
rested by order of Cornwallis, 717. 

Farrar, Captain, wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Fayssoux, Dr. Peter, Surgeon, arrested 
by order of Cornwallis, 717, 718, 719 ; 
released, 7-4. 

Feapue, Thomas, wounded at Beau- 
fort, ;340. 

Fenwick, Thomas, treacherous cou- 
duct of, m>. 

Fenwick, Mrs. Thomas, Congress or- 
ders her restraint, 187. 

Ferguson, Dr. Adam, Secretary to 
Peace Commissioners, 257. 

Ferguson, Patrick, commands .Ameri- 
can volunteers, rcihiforccs Sir Henry 
Clinton, 44<); joins Tarleloii in at- 
tack upon post at Monck's Corner, 
4<>7 ; traverses country between 
Broad and Catawba rivers, .")()2: 
sketch of, (102, 603, 604 ; large powers 
given to, 605; his judicious but 
stern course, (iOO. 607 ; his move- 
ments, (ilO; advances, (i31 ; men- 
tioned, 681, 6(16, 61>7; sends woundetl 
at Cedar Springs to Musgrove's .Mills, 



686 ; his movements ambuscaded by 
McDowell, 755; sends threats to the 
over-mountain men,75(); recognizes 
danger of his situation, 777; issues 
proclamation, 778; sends dispatch 
to Cornwallis, 779; takes position on 
King's Mountain, 782; commands at 
the battle of, 783, 784, 785, 794, 795, 
79(i, 797; is killeii, 798. 

Ferguson, Thomas, member of com- 
mittee of Provincial Congress, 5; 
for vigorous measures, 30; on com- 
mittee on state of colony, 73; mem- 
ber of Legislative Couucil, 115; of 
Privy Council, 282; on council to 
consider Prevost's terms of capitula- 
tion for city, 362; opposes capitula- 
tion, 375; member of council, re- 
mains in city with Gadsden, taken 
into council of war by Gadsden, 475; 
threatens to open the gates of the 
city to the enemy, 471!; dissuades 
Gadsden from sending letter of pro- 
test to Lincoln, 501 ; jjrisoner of war, 
534 ; arrested by order of Cornwallis, 
sent exile to St. Augustine, 717, 718, 
719. 

Few, Colonel William, of Georgia, takes 
command of the expedition against 
Ninety-Six, 831, K,i2 : fails to support 
Clarke and ]\IcCall at Long Cane, 
8;j2, S3:;. 

Few, Colonel, of Camden, arrested by 
Lord Rawdon,619. 

Fishdam, battle at, 820, 821, 822, 
823. 

Fishing Creek, Tarleton surprises and 
defeats Sumter. (iSO, 681, ()82. 683. 

Fitzsimons, Christopher, an addi'esser, 
.536. 

Flag, hoisted at Fort Johnson, 69 ; shot 
down and raised at Fort Moultrie, 
157. 

Flagg, George, arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, exile to St. Augustine, 
717. 71>s. 719. 

Flat Rock, Davie's alTair at. 621, 622, 
623. 

Fletchall, Thomas, ('olonel of militia, 
12; reliiscs to take arms against the 
King, 3(), ;37 : holds muster of regi- 
ment, 38; corresponds with Lord 



INDEX 



871 



Williiiin Canipboll, 30; joins Ciiri- 
iiiu'liani anil Hrowno. forms cainp 
near Niiiciy-Six, 47 ; si'iuls enil>assy 
tu Drayton, 4.S ; enters into treaty, 
"jO, ."il, .")'J : eiiconrajjes iiiovenient 
ajiainst Williamson, iK!, 9,"); raptured 
liy Kieliiirdson. sent prisoner to 
("liarlestown, '.M! ; remains tliere un- 
til cml of Kevohition, iX!; mentioned. 
7SS. 

Floyd, John, arrested by order of 
('<irM\\all!s, 717. 

Floyd, Matthew, sc!it by Robinson to 
f.ord NVillianiCanipliell under treaty, 
!•.'!. ill ; is arrested, m ; is fjiven eom- 
niand of Neel's rejriment, but is 
driven out by Wliiys and eseapes, 

.7 to. 

Forces, .\merican and Kritish returns 
and estimates of. 2Sil, L'lK), 2!»1, 292, 
21«, 2'.U, 2'.C), 2'.t(;, 297. 

Ford, Isaac, estate sequestered by 
Hritisli, 729. 

Ford, Lieutenant Colonel, of North 
( 'arolina, nientioniMl, tiii;). 

Fort Moultrie, the battle of, 1.").'!, I'lA, 
l.Vi. Vii'>, I'll, 158, 159, 1()0, IGl, 
1(12. 

France, alliance with, opposition to, 
24.S, 25H; riots growing; out of, 277, 
278. 

Franklin, Benjamin, position of. in re- 
gard to Revolution, lt)7; on com- 
njittee of Congress to confer with 
Washington as to military systems, 
2.S7. 

Fraser, Major (Br.), commands at Mus- 
grove's Mills, 090, (591 ; is wouuded, 
t;9.H. 

Fraser, James, (Br.) commissioner of 
i-aptures, 544. 

Fraser, John, killed at Bcaufc.rt, ."{40. 

Freeman, Lieutenant John, joins 
t'olonnl .lories, takes part in light at 
tiowen's Fort.lii:!; :ind at MeDow- 
ell's camp. f>14 : under Hampton 
pursues I >unlap, <il5. 

Freeman, Captain William, sent to a.s- 
Kure Cherokees of friendly disposi- 
tion of whites, 189. 

Freer, Charles, takes protection, 729. 

French Fleet, arrivals of, 40*.), 81ti. 



Frisbie, Captain, with Rattlesnake, re- f 
imlses attack, commands in gallant 
alTair on Stono. ;«tS. 

Fuller, Richard, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14. 

Fuser, Lieutenant Colonel (Br.), 
deman<ls surrender of Suubury, 
.'{24. 

Gadsden, Christopher, Colonel of First 
Regiment raised by Trovincial Con- 
gress, 14 : mentioned, 22: in attend- 
aiK'c on Continental Congress, 40; 
his absence noted, KHI; returns from 
Congress at I'hiladelphia, 1();5 ; pro- 
iiouneos in fayor of separation and 
indepcmlenee, 108, lO'.l ; on commit- 
tee to prepare plan of governmeut, 
110; mentioned. 112; assumes com- 
mand of Fort Johnson, 12(;, 14.?; po- 
sition of, in regard to revolution as 
represented by .John Adams, 1(54 ; 
made Brigadier General, 204 ; men- 
tione<l, 205; presses for change of 
constitution and disestablishment 
of church, '2'M>; letter to Drayton, 
245 ; elected Vice President, 245 ; 
letter to Drayton telling of action 
of mob, 2(i8, 2(i9, 270; letter to Tim- 
othy in regard to same, 271, 272; 
letter to Drayton, 275, 27(5; elected 
representative under Constitution of 
1778, 280 ; member of Privy Council, 
282; controversy with Howe, .S05, 
.■{(Mi, ;«)7; duel with Howe, .')08 : men- 
tioned, •'{22 ; on council u])on terms 
of cai)itulation to Prc'vosi, :>!i2; his 
course thereon, o()2; again chosen 
Lieutenant (iovernor to remain in 
Charlestown when Governor Rut- 
ledge goes out, 4(>.">; invited to seat in 
council of war.47;{; opposes evacua- 
tion, 474; brings in his council, pro- 
tests against evacuation, 475; ami 
carries the day, 47<): his conduct 
criticised, 477 ; presents terms he de- 
mands for citizens, 478; indignant 
because not called into .secoinl coun- 
cil of war, 501 ; writes letter to Lon- 
don on subject, but is dissuaded 
from sending it, 502; his conduct 
during siege considered, 512; pris- 
oner of war, 5^ ; arrested by order 



872 



INDEX 



of Cornwallis, 710, 717; taken on 
board guard ship, 713, 71!*: declined 
to give another parole, 71:5; sent to 
St. Augustine and thrown into a 
dungeon. T'il!. 

Gage, General, mentioned, lOG, 187, 
188, 28(i. 

Gainey, Major, collects body of Tories 
dispersed by James, 052. 

Gale, Josiah, hanged by Cornwallis, 
711. 

GaUey Fight, on Stono, 398. 

Garden, Benjamin, Lieutenant Colonel 
of militia. 1'2 ; his regiment in Moul- 
trie's retreat, 354; brings into 
Charlestowu one hundred militia, 
44SI. 

Gardiner, Major, (Br.) officer, com- 
mands post at Beaufort, is attacked 
and defeated by Moultrie, 33!(, 
340. 

Gaskens, Amos, Tory of bad character 
placed over Whigs, 048. 

Gaston, Lieutenant, wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Gates, General Horatio, arrives on con- 
fines of State, 048, 641) ; disdains 
Marion, sends him to collect boats, 
049; supersedes De Kalb, 058; 
changes route of army, 059 ; refuses 
the services of White and Washing- 
ton, 059; distress and mutinous con- 
dition of army on the march, 0()0, 001 ; 
issues i)roelaniation, 0()2; Caswell 
joins him with North Carolina mili- 
tia, 0()3 ; encumbered with women 
and children, ()04 ; joined by Stevens 
with Virginia militia, (iO(); betrayed 
by a citizen of Camden, 007; ap- 
proves Sumter's .scheme of cai)turing 
c(nivoy and gives him men for pur- 
pose, 008; issues orders of battle. 
009,070, ()71; advances without de- 
termineil piiri>ose. ()73; collision 
with British advance, ()7;!; learns 
that Cornwallis commands, 074 ; calls 
council, 074; fails in moment of 
battle, (!70, 077 ; is utterly defeated, 
079; flees, 079; meets Davie but re- 
fuses to stop, 080; disastrous result 
of battle, 083, 084, 085; mentioned, 
837. 



General Assembly (colonial), meetf^, 
53 ; Governor's speech to, 53, 54 ; 
reply thereto, 55 ; adjourned from 
day to day, attends service at St. 
Philip's Church, day of fasting, 57; 
is dissolved, 08. 

Georgetown, garrisoned by detach- 
ments of British provincials, 502. 

Georgia, quota of troops of, 289. 

Germain, Lord George, Secretary, Sir 
Henry Clinton's letter to, 533; exult- 
ant letter to Sir Henry, 291, 838. 

German Fusileers, refuse to join in re- 
sistance to Council of Safety, 03; 
serve at Savannah, 04. 

German Settlers, opposed to revolu- 
tion, 33, ;>1; refuse to meet commis- 
sioners to interview, 41, 42. 

Germantown, battle of, number of 
American troops present at, 291. 

Gervais, John Lewis, on secret com- 
mittee, 18; member of council goes 
out of town with Governor Rut ledge, 
405 ; writes an encouraging letter, 
488 ; is nearly captured by Tarleton, 
517 ; escapes to Virginia, 533, 534. 

Gibbes, Thomas, takes protection, 729. 

Gibbes, William, member of committee 
of rrovincial Congress, 4, 5; estate 
sequestered by British, 729. 

Gibbes, William Hasell, arrested by 
order of Cornwallis, exiled to St. 
Augustine. 717. 718, 719. 

Gibbs's Tory Battalion, represented at 
convention, 711. 

Gilbank, Major John, killed at siege of 
Charlestowu, 403. 

Gilbert Town, mentioned, 755, 7()4, 77(). 

Giles, Captain Thomas, Captain of 
Dragoons, 298; wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417; raises companies for 
Marion, 049. 

Gillespie, James, collects party and 
captures Ih-jtish detachment on I'ee 
Dee guarding sick. OH!. 

Gillon, Alexander, apjiointed Commo- 
dore, sails for Europe to procure 
frigates, but accomplishes little, 217, 
218, 219; estate sequestered by Brit- 
ish, 729. 

Gilmer, Enoch, W'hig scoul at King's 
Mountain, 785, 780. 



INDEX 



Gist, Brigadier General, commands 
Maryhviiil divisiitn at Camden, (575, 
(i'S; t'srapes, (ITS. 

Glass, exei'iitt'd at .\u;:nsta, 737. 

Glazier, Lieutenant Colonel (Hr.), com- 
mands tiiiltcry ai sit'j;e of Savannah, 
411; ri'piilscs Mtdndisli's assault, 
41(!; Cliarlestown citizens paraded 
before at St. Augustine, where sent 
in exile, ~'2'>. 

Glen, William, Lieutenant of militia, 

Glover, Joseph, Tolonel of militia, 12. 

Golson, Lewis, Major of militia, 12. 

Goodwin, Francis, estate sequestered 
by Ihr Hiitish, 72!). 

Goodwin, Robert, Captain of Rangers, 
11 ; winmdi'd, 4.S(;. 

Gough, Richard, Captain of Dragoons, 
2<».s. 

Gowen's Old Fort, battle at. 613. 

Grafton, Duke of, informs House of 
Peers <>f alliance between France 
and America, 248, 24!t. 

Graham, Major (Br.), reenforces Sir 
Henry Clinton. 441'). 

Graham, Colonel Joseph, of North Caro- 
lina, mentioned, lakes part in the 
second battle <if Cedar Springs, (>.'>.">, 
(;:u;. (;;'.7, CW. ()3«>, »>10; with Davie 
hovers in front of Cornwallis's ad- 
vance, 744; joins the South Caro- 
linians on march to King's Moun- 
tain, 770. 

Graham, Major Joseph, severely 
wounded at Charlotte. 744, 745. 

Grant, General, mtMilioned, 421. 

Granville County, military district, 10. 

Graves, Admiral (Hr.), mentioned. 
i:i2: joins Arliuthnot and blockades 
French tleet, .StC. 

Graves, John, wonndeil ;it Beaufort. 
:no. 

Gray, Henry, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
U, present at battle of Fort M.. ni- 
tric, 14.'l; mortally wounded with 
colors at the siege of Savannah, 
41."», 417. 

Gray, Lieutenant Peter, present at 
battle of Fort Moultrie. 143. 

Great Cane Brake, battle at, .s7. 

Green, Henry, arrest of, ordered, .ss. 



Green, John, wounded at Beaufort, 
MO. 

Green, Thomas, signs treaty with Dray- 
t<m,.'-.l. 

Greene, General Nathanael, Washing- 
ton writes John Mathews of his ap- 
l)ointment to Soutliern Department, 
84S : comiiii,' canipaign to be con- 
ducted by liim, S,")8. 

Gregory, General, of North Carolina, 
wounded at battle of Camden, (i7S. 

Grimball, Thomas, Jr., Cai)tain Lieu- 
tenant of artillery company, 12 ; 
Captain, 127 ; as Major commands 
battalion at battle of Beaufort, 3.'}!l; 
arrested by order of (^ornwallis, sent 
exile to St. Augustine, 723, 857. 

Grimball, Sheriff Thomas, custody of 
Robert Cmiinsiliam, 8(i. 

Groundwater, Andrew, trial and execu- 
tion of, 34(). 

Hacker, Captain Continental frigate, 
opposes surrender of city, 49.1. 

Hall, Colonel, of Maryland, covers 
(iates's left on march to Camden, (itio. 

Hall, George Abbot, exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 8."i7. 

Hall, Thomas, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
14 ; present at battle of Fort Moultrie, 
14.3; arrested hy order of Cornwallis, 
sent exile to St. Augustine, 723. 

Hall, Captain William, successful cruise 
in private armed vessel, 3(I8; arrest- 
ed by order of Cornwallis, sent exile 
to St. Augustine, 724. 

Haly, Dr. John, Surgeon General of 
Cliarlestown militia, 12. 

Hambright, joins the South Carolina 
men on march to King's Mountain. 
770; strength of his party, 784, 78<,i; 
leads little band at Kings Mountain, 
70,-., 7il(i. 

Hamilton, Andrew, Caj^aiti at Ninety- 
Six, w. 

Hamilton, Lieutenant Colonel John, of 
North Carolina Tory regiment, takes 
part in Campbell's e.\]>edition, 3.'i7 ; 
his character, .3:{7 ; at battle on the 
Stono,.'!S,S ; at the siege of Savannaii, 
410; reenforces Sir Henry Clinton, 
44.''>; captured. 451; his corps men- 
tioned. ^AV2, .-iSO, (;tJ3. 



874 



INDEX 



Hamilton, Joseph, Captain of artillery, 
'.tl. 

Hamilton, Paul, an addresser, 53G. 

Hammond, Le Roy, commissioners ad- 
dress meeting at his residence, Snow 
Hill, -Ki; menibcr of Legislative 
Council under new constitution, 115; 
as Lieutenant Colonel underWilliani- 
son saves the day at Esseuecea town, 
197. 

Hammond, Captain Samuel, his account 
of Williamson's cimduct urging con- 
tinuation of the struggle, 529, 5:?0, 
531 ; with Clarke at Musgrove's ■Mills, 
687; assists AVillianis in condiu-ting 
lirisoners to Hillsboro, 7'.'>2', joins 
him in raising men in North Caro- 
lina, 71)9; mentioned, 79G. 

Hampton, Andrew, of North Carolina, 
mentioned, (i34. 

Hampton, Anthony, massacred by Iiul- 
ians, 19o. 

Hampton County, mentioned, 10. 

Hampton, Edward, sent to invite Ind- 
ians to a talk, 193; jiursues Duulap, 
t>15, (31(3. 

Hampton, Henry, sent to invite Ind- 
ians to a talk, 19.'?; joins Sumter, 
577 ; protests against "Williams's ap- 
pointment as Brigadier General, 7()8 ; 
takes part in })attle of Blackstock, 
826. 

Hampton, John, mentioned, 19.'>; Cap- 
tain of Dragoons, 298; joins Sumter, 
.577. 

Hampton, Jonathan, furnishes infor- 
mation as to Ferguson's movements, 
7(i4. 

Hampton, Preston, massacred hy Ind- 
ians, 193. 

Hampton, Richard, sent to invite Ind- 
ians to a talk, 19;; ; joins Sumter, .577. 

Hampton, "Wade, mentioned, 193; takes 
l)rotection, 729. 

Hamptons, massacre of, 19.3. 

Hanger, Major George (Hr.), sketch of, 
604, (i()5 ; large powers given to, (>I15 ; 
statement in regard to losses at 
Hanging Rock, ()31 ; takes part in 
battle of Camden, ()78; commands 
Legion at Charlotte, is repulsed by 
Davie, 746; wounded, 745. 



Hanging Rock, Davie attacks and de- 
feats party of Loyalists at, 624, 625 ; 
garrison of, 626, 627 ; battle of, 628, 
629; losses in, (J.'iO, (531 . 

Hannahan, Edward, takes protection, 
729. 

Harden, 'William, Captain of artillery 
company at Beaufort, 127. 

Harleston, Isaac, Captain of Regulars. 
14; present at battle of Fort Moul- 
trie, 143. 

Harrington, Colonel, of North Carolina, 
arrives with some militia, 4,58. 

Harrington, "William Henry, Cajjtain 
of volunteer comiiany on committee 
state of colony, 7.'!. 

Harris, Lieutenant Colonel, of Georgia, 
hastens to join Moultrie, 3.55; posted 
on Charlestown line, 357, 3(>4. 

Harris, Dr. Tucker, Surgeon of militia, 
12. 

Harrison, Benjamin, of Virginia, re- 
ports ou representation from South 
Carolina as to establishment of gov- 
ernment, 107 : on committee on mili- 
tary reorganizations, 287. 

Harrison, James, and wife escape 
massacre, 193: son Preston killed, 
193. 

Harrisons, The, banditti appointed to 
office by British, 642, 650. 

Hart, Rev. Oliver, on mission to inte- 
rior \'\ ith Drayton, 41. 

Hawsey, Captain (Tory), wounded at 
Musgrove's Mills. (!93. 

Hay, Major George. (Br.) commissioner 
of captures, 544. 

Hayes, Colonel Joseph, mentioned at 
King's Mountain, 796. 

Hayne, Isaac, elected representative 
froiu Si. Paul's, 212; mentioned, 242. 

Heaggins, t^olonel of North Carolina 
militia marches with Davie to Hang- 
ing Rock, ()24. * 

Heathcott, James, killed at Beaufort, 
340. 

Heatley, Charles, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Henderson, "William, Major of Second 
Ritle Reginu'ul, 127; Lieutenant 
Colonel .sent, to sui)])ort Howe, 32(i; 
covers llauk of Lincoln's march 



INDEX 



875 



against Stono, 387 ; relieves Marion 
at Monck's ('orner, 4;<(!; makes 
sally from works on tlio to\vn,4H2; 
opposes surrt'ndiT of eity, 4!l."i. 

Henry, Alexander, ami his sons delay 
For;;nson's messengers to Corn- 
wallis, 780. 

Hemdon. Colonel, of North Carolina, 
iiicntioiu'ii, l'.i'2. 

Hessian Troops, comhu-t of, :>'_'.">. 

Heth, Lieutenant Colonel William, ar- 
rives witli \'irginia Continentals, 
4-7: position of, in line, 4.")"_': men- 
tioned,, ">(I7 ; strength of brigade, Sl>7. 

Hext, William, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14. 

Heyward, Thomas, Jr., member of 
Proviiieial Congress, 5; Lientenant 
of artillery company, 1'2\ on secret 
committee, IS; for moderate meas- 
ures, ."50, ;il ; captain, reeiiforees Fort 
Johnson. (>!•; commissioner to ob- 
struct harbor, 7(>; public safety 
intrusted to, HO; on committee to 
prepare plan of government, 110; 
elected member of Continental Con- 
gress, rJ4, ItM ; his position in 
regard to Revolution, 17;i; signs 
Declaration of Independence, 178; 
elected Lieutenant Governor, de- 
clines, 'JSl ; Captain of artillery at 
Beaufort, is wounded, .'VW, ;U0: 
arrested by order of Cornwallis.sent 
exile to St. .Vn-ustine, 717. 718, 71'.). 

Heyward, William, Sr., with General 
Moultrie re ■oiinoitres the country 
at Inllitiny. ;:.V_'. 

Hill, Colonel William, his account of 
election of representatives, L'()7, -08, 
2()'.': joins .Sumter, ,")77 ; his account 
of the organization of the ^Yhigs at 
Bnlloek's Creek, .".8,8, .-,,S!i. r.'K); joins 
Sumter, takes part in the battle of 
l\f>cky .Mount, ()-4, (i'-'o, (j2(i; in 
the battle of Hanging Rock, (1?7 : 
is wounded, tfcW); sugirests Williams 
to .Sumter as Commissary, 7(>(> ; calls 
convention to consider Williams's 
appointment as Brigadier General, 
7G8; with Lacey to commaiul Sum- 
ter's men while committee goes to 
Rutledge to protest against Will- 



iams's appointment, 7()8; refuses to 
recognize Williiims, 770; remains in 
neighborhood after battle, 81)8 : j)res- 
ent at battle «( Fislidain. 8:jlT, S-21, 
82'_',8'_'.!: takes part in battleof Blapk- 
stoek. 82(1, 8-JS; nieuiioned, 810. 
Hill, Whitmell, member of Continental 
Congress, letter to Henry Laurens, 

;n."i, .•ii(). 

Hinchenbrook. British ship, blockades 
CliarU'stown luirlx.r, -.'K;, 218; is 
captured by Colonel Elbert, 323. 

Hobcaw Point, Cornwallis takes pos- 
session of, 48(1. 

Hogan, Captain, wounded at Savannah, 
417. 

Hogan, General James, of North Caro- 
lina, marches to reenforce Lincoln, 
428; position of, on lines of Charles- 
town, 4,")2; attends council of war, 
472; mentioned, .">07 ; strength of 
brigade, S-'^>. 

HoUings worth. Captain, sent by Mc- 
Girth to capture Captain McCoy, 
tortured his wife. (UO. 

Holmes, Isaac, arrested by order of 
Cornwallis. sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717, 718, 71!). 

Holston Men, Ferguson sends threats 

to, 7.")(;. 

Hopkins, David, Lieutenant of Rangers, 

14. 
Hopkins, Samuel, opposes surrender of 

Charlestown, 4".).j. 
Horry, Daniel, Lientenant Colonel of 
militia, 12; posteil on Sullivan's 
Island to ojipose British crossing 
from Long Island, 145; Colonel >)f 
Dragoons, 208; mentioned, ;i0.j; at 
Charlestown during Prevost inva- 
sion, .'11)4 ; detached to attack post on 
Stono, .'582 ; his Dragoons mentioned, 
4'J7. 
Horry, Elias, takes protection, 721). 
Horry, Hugh, juns Marion. ."i77, (>51 ; 
takes part in rescuing prisoners at 
I Nel.s(urs Kerry, fi'.)".), 7(H): retires 
I into N<u-th Carolina with Marion, 
701 ; dissuades .Marion from joining 
Continental army in North Caro- 
! lina, 7.">1 ; mentioned, 810. 
Horry, Peter, Captaiu of Regulars, 14; 



876 



INDEX 



reiin forces Fort Johnson. GO; present 
at battle of Fort Moultrie, 143; 
Major of Second Keginient, 204 ; 
joins Marion, 577, 651 ; detached by 
Marion, G9i); retires into North 
Carolina with Marion, 701; men- 
tioned, 84!». 

Horry, Thomas, wounded, 457. 

Houston, Governor, commands militia 
of Georgia, ;>2'_* ; refuses to receive 
orders from General Howe, 322. 

Howard, Nathaniel, arrest of, ordered, 
88. 

Howard, Samuel, Avounded at Beau- 
fort. ;uo. 

Howarth, Colonel Probart, Governor of 
Fort Johnson, 12. 

Howe, Brigadier General Robert, of 
North Carolina, arrives with General 
Lee, 137 ; assumes command of 
troops, 305 ; controversy with Gads- 
den, 305, :V)6, ;W7; duel with Gads- 
den, 308; resumes iuvasion of 
Florida, 322 ; relieved of ct)mmand 
by Lincoln, 332. 

Howe, Sir William, misled by the trea- 
son of General Charles Lee, aban- 
dons Burgoyne, 421 ; resigns, 422, 
423; mentioned, 43,5. 

Howley, Governor, of Georgia, attends 
meeting at Ninety-Six to decide on 
course of conduct. 529. 

Hubart, Michael, informer to Commit- 
tee of Safety, 23. 

Hack, Captain, character of, sent by 
TurnbuU to break up Whig i)arty, 
is attacked, defeated, and killed, 
589, 5<)0, 591, 592, .593, 5m, 595, 
59G, 597, 598, 599; mentioned, (jKJ. 

Huger, Benjamin, Lieutenant of ar- 
tillery company, 12 ; Major of First 
Kille Regiment, 127; killed ou 
Charlestown lines, 358. 

Huger, Daniel, elected representative 
under Constitution of 1778, 280; 
member of council, goes out of town 
with Governor Rutledge, 4U5; is 
nearly captured by Tarleton, 517; 
comes in and gives his parole, 533; 
takes i)rotection, 728. 

Huger, Francis, Captain of Regulars, 
14; reenforces Fort Johnson. l>9: 



sent with flag to British fleet, 1.39; 
present at battle of Fort Moultrie, 
143; takes protection, 729. 

Huges, Henry, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
14. 

Huger, Isaac, Lieutenant Colonel of 
First Regiment, 14 ; Colonel of Fifth 
Regiment, 12(i, 127: elected repre- 
sentative under Constitution of 1778, 
280; mentioned, 305 : made Brigadier 
General, 32(); ordered to hasten to 
the support of Howe, 320 ; commands 
right wing at Savannah in 1778, 
328; mentioned, 330; on council of 
war, ;549 ; detached to attack post on 
Stono, 382; commands left wing at 
the battle of Stono, 387 ; wounded, 
391 ; at Savannah, 413, 414 ; relieves 
Moultrie at Dorcdicster, 437 ; his 
command at Monck's Corner sur- 
prised and cut to pieces, 4<)(), 4(;7, 
4(J8, 4()9 ; escapes capitulation in 
city, 5.33; at the battle of Camden, 
0X0-705. 

Huger, John, member of committee of 
Provincial Congress, 5; his course 
in committee, 30. 

Hume, Lieutenant, killed at Savannah, 
417. 

Hunter, Colonel, of Camden, imprisoned 
by Lord Rawdon, 019. 

Hunter, David, Captain at Ninety-Six, 
91. 

Hunt's Bluff, Gillespie's affair at, 
()40. 

Husbands, Colonel Vesey, of North 
Carolina, Tory, killed at King's 
INIountain, 798. 

Huse, Henry, estate of, sequestered by 
British. 729. 

Hutson, Richard, letter to Isaac Hayner 
212, 21.3. 242; member of council 
remains with Lieutenant Governor 
Gadsden, 4()5 ; taken into council of 
war. 475; arrested by order of Corn- 
wallis, .sent exile to St. Augustine, 
717. 718, 719; estate sequestered by 
British, 729. 

Hyrne, Edmund, Cai)tain of Regulars, 
14 ; wounded, 4.m. 

Imhofi, John Lewis Peyer, Lieutenant 
of Rangers, 14. 



INDKX 



877 



Inglis, Thomas, Lieutenant of militia, 
IJ. 

Inman, Captain Shadrach, his strata- 
;:tin and gallant conduct at Mus- 
giove's Mills, im, (J'.fJ; is killed, 
(\'X\. 

Innes, Alexander, Se<Tclaiy to Lord 
William Campbell, present at inter- 
view with Matthew Floyd, O.S, <t4 ; 
Colonel of South Carolina Provineial 
Kegimeni, '^^2^>\ a carrier of a letter 
to, taken and cxt'cnted, .mi; his regi- 
ment at siege of Charlestown, 44l>; 
commands garrison at Prince Fort, 
614; Clarke comes up with, (io'2 ; 
reenforees Mnsgrove's Mills, (iSil; 
attacked and defeated by Shelby, 
Clarke, and AVilliams, r,90, G91, (J92, 
(■.!»:;; is wounded, (>'.t3. 

loor, Joseph, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
14; Captain, blown up on Randolph 
with company detached as marines, 
'2.'A, •_'."«.-). 

Iredell, James, of North Carolina, let- 
ter of, (|uoted, 1()7. 

Irwin, Colonel, of North Carolina, 
joins l)avie, (i2."?; takes part with 
Sumter at Rocky Blount, ()"_'4, (i'_'(i, 
(;_>7. 

Irwin, Mr., of Camden, imprisoned by 
Lnrl Kawdon. (il!). 

Isaacs, Colonel, of North Carolina, sent 
to Si. Augustine, s.")7. 

Izard, Ralph, mentioned. It. 

Izard, Walter, mentione<l, il. 

Jacks, Colonel, of Georgia, joins Will- 
i.'iinson, !'.•.'». 

Jackson, Lieutenant Basil, present at 
battle of Fort .Mouitrie, 14.<. 

Jackson, Hugh, dies of fatigue at 
St. .no, :;'.>1. 

Jackson, Major James, of Georgia, 
lakes pari in battle of Fislidam, 8'_'0; 
in battle of Mlacksiock, S2G. 

James, Major John, joins Marion, 'iTT ; 
interview with Capt:iiii .\rdesoif, 
ti47, (SIS; forms iiarty nu<-leus of 
Marion's brigarle, i»4.S, (>4'.i ; takes 
post at Williamsburg, (iTiO; ilisperses 
Gainey's body of Tories, (iVi; niii- 
buseades Wemyss, 700, 701 ; sent 
by Marion to rei'.ouuoilre. Lis house 



burned by Worn VRS, 747; joins Marion 
on his return to the State, 748 ; takes 
part in alTair at Black Mingo, 74'J; 
mciitioiiod, S4!t. 

Jameson, Major John, reports to Moul- 
trie on militia doing duty,4.'if); es- 
capes from Monck's Corner slaugh- 
ter, 4(;s. 

Jasper, Sergeant, his gallant action 
at Fort Moultrie, ir)7; detaileil as 
.scout, 402; killed at siege of Savan- 
nah planting the colors on redoubt, 
41.-.. 

Jay, John, his position in regard to 
Hfvolutioii, 1(>7. 

Jefferson, Thomas, his position in re- 
gar<l to Kcvolution, ir.7. 

Jenkins, Joseph, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars. 14. 

Jervey, George, wounded at Beaufort, 

Johns, Asal, Thomas Ayer protects 
with his own body, ()44. 

Johns, Jonathan, Thomas Ayer dis- 
covered at his lu.use, (J44. 

Johns, Thomas, takes part in capture 
of Ayer, (14."). 

Johnson, Fort, possession taken of, by 
Colonel Motte, 57; threatened by 
the Taiiiar and C/ff ro/vr', (ii) ; reen- 
forced, tlag hoisted on, 09. 

Johnson, William, elected representa- 
tive. "iSO; story of, in regard to 
.\ndre as a spy in Charlestown, 487; 
arrested by order of Cornwallis, 
sent e.xile to St. Augustine, 723. 

Johnson, Captain, captures a noted 
Tory, James Moore, is wounded, 
bis prisoner escapes, (>;i3. 

Johnson, Dr. Uzal, Surgeon to Fergu- 
son's corps, 7.S8. 

Johnston, Captain, wounded at Au- 
gust.t, joins the King's Mountain 
expedition, 7ti4. 

Johnstone, Hon. George, Peace Com- 
missioner, 25f. ; iixliscreet conduct 
of, 2110, 2»)1, 2<!2: resigns. 2():{. 

Jones, Captain Adam Crane, Ninety- 
Six. IK). 

Jones, Brigadier General Allen, of 
North Carolina, forms part of Small- 
wood's proiHJScd expedition, Sl'J, 



878 



INDEX 



Jones. Francis, nxpress from MirDow- 
cll to Slielhy and others of Gates's 
defeat, (j!l5. 

Jones, Colonel John, of (Jefirgia ; gath- 
ers party, crosses into South Caro- 
lina, attacks Tories at Gowen's 
Fort, (512, (il.'J : is pursued by Dunlap, 
severely wounded, ()14. 

Jones, Noble Wimberly, of Georgia, 
sent to St. .\ngustine, 857. 

Jones, Mr., killed at Savannah, 417. 

Jourdine, Captain, killed at St. Augus- 
tine, I'M. 

Jgyner, John, undertakes to capture 
powder, 18, lit; appointed Captain 
South Carolina navy, sails for 
Europe. 217 ; is unsuccessful, 21i). 

Kerr, a ^Vhig spy at King's Mountain, 
782. 

Kerr, Captain (Br.), at Musgrove's 
Mills, (iitr.. 

Kershaw. Ely, Captain of Rangers, 14 ; 
exiled to Bermuda, died on voyage, 
8.^7. 

Kershaw, Joseph, Colonel on mission 
to interior with Drayton, 41,42, 4.'^, 
44 ; on committee on state of colony, 
73; member of Legislative Council, 
115 ; mutiny in his regiment, S.'!.") ; 
tries to raise the militia, 4o3, .')2(); 
surrenders on parole, 53;5 ; sent to 
the British Honduras, 857, 

Kershaw, Mr., aiTested by Lord Raw- 
don, Gl'.t. 

King's Mountain, battle of, 77()-S0."). 

King's Tory Battalion, represented in 
convention, 711. 

King's Tree, affair at, 701. 

Kinloch, Captain, Seventeenth Dra- 
goons (Br.), takes part in slaughter 
of Buford's men at Waxhaws, 521. 

Kinloch, Mr., carries message from 
.Moult rii' to Prevost, 375. 

Kirkland, Moses, accepts commission 
from Provincial Congress, occupies 
Fort Charlotte, .".7 ; deserts to Fletch- 
all, 38; urges seizure of powder, 
38; goes to Charlestown and re- 
turns, 46; on Williamson's approach 
flees again to Charlestown, takes 
refuge on Tamar, 47: Stuart sends 
letter to Gage by, 187, 188. 



Kirkland's Tory Battalion, convention 
of, 711. 

Knox, General Henry, report of, as 
Secretary of War, 28<), 2;K), 2i»4, 8.37. 

Knyphausen. General, Sir Henry Clin- 
ton turns command of army over 
to, 430; mentioned, 837. 

Kowath, Colonel, of Pula.ski's Legion, 
killed before Charlestown, ;5(i3. 

Lacey, Edward, appears, sketch of, 
oii:!, .")!I4; prevents his father from 
communicating with Huck, 5!l.'), .'jIMi ; 
takes part in battle of Williamson's 
plantatitm, 597; joins Sumter with 
party, (JOG ; joins Davie at Lands- 
ford, G'23; takes part in battle of 
Rocky Mount, 024, 025, 026; sent 
by Sumter to recruit, 705; refu.scs 
to recognize Williams's commis- 
sion as Brigadier General, 770; his 
great ride to counteract Williams's 
scheme, 772, 773, 774; strength of 
his party at King's Mountain, 784, 
78(1; mentioned, 791; takes part in 
battle, horse shot under him, 795; 
left in command of Sumter's men, 
804; remains in neighborhood after 
battle, 808; present at battle of 
Fishdam, 821, 822, 823; takes part 
in battle of Blackstock, 82(), 827, 
828 ; keeps the field, 830 ; mentioned, 
849. 

Lacey, Edward, St., a Tory, is tied 
by his son's order, escapes his 
guard, is retaken and tied, 595, 59('). 

Ladson, James, Lieutenaut of Regu- 
lars. 14. 

Ladson, Robert, Lieutenant of militia, 
12. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, returns from 
France, informs Congress of the 
coming of a French expedition, 844, 
845. 

Lang, Captain, sabres Major Lindsay 
while wounded on ground, 8.">2. 

Langdon, Captain Thomas, Ninety- 
Six. 90. 

La Roche, James, Major of militia, 
12. 

Laumoy. Colonel, French engineer, 
wouniled at Stono, 391 ; mentioned, 
452 ; attends council of war, 



INKKX 



879 



472; aHvisps evaluation of the 
town, 47r>, 47<i, 477. 478; his opin- 
ion as to the defence of Chiirles- 
ttiwn supported by Duportuil, 485. 

Laurens County, mentioned. 10. 

Laurens, Henry, nicniber of eoniniiltee 
of rrovinc-ial Congress, .">; men- 
tioned, 2*J; corresi)ondenfe witli 
Captain Tliornlti-ongli. 70; vote on 
Council of Safety. 71 : intrusted with 
l)ublie safety. S'J ; reports from eom- 
mitlee on state fjovernmcnt, lOS; 
on eommittee to prepare plan. IIO; 
member of Legislative Council under 
new constitution, and X'ice-Presi- 
dent, ll.'i; letter describing his feel- 
ings upon receipt of Declaration of 
Independence. 17i>; mentioned, '2i>'.\: 
letter of, as President of Continen- 
tal Congress in reply to Peace Com- 
missioners, 'Jo'.i; reply to personal 
letter of one of same, 2(11 ; elected 
representative under Constitution of 
1778, 280; controversy with Dray- 
ton. :U5. 31»;, 317, 318, 311»; advi.ses 
arming negroes, 372; sails on em- 
bassy to Amsterdam, captured on 
voyage. 8:«t, 840. 

Laurens. Colonel John, carries protest 
to I>"Estaing against abandonment 
of exijcdition to Rhode Island. 277; 
elected n-prcscntativc under Consti- 
tution of 1778, 280: aide to Wash- 
ington, return to South Carolina, 
310; brings letter fnun Washington. 
312; thanked by Congress, 312; 
declines promotion out of order, 
313; is made L'eutenant Colonel, 
.'{i;?; ••omniands rear-guard at Tulli- 
liny, is attacked and wounded, .">o;>: 
opposes surrender of Charlestown, 
."(■(2, ;it)7 ; refuses to carry message 
to Pre'vost, 3<W, 373, .374. .M."); men- 
tio!u>il, 427; letter of, (pioted, 4.">0; 
skirinislu-s with the British ad- 
vance, 454; falls back, 4.Vi ; men- 
tioned, 4.Vj; withdrawn from l.ein- 
priere. 48.3; undertakes to supply 
garrison with fresh meat, 48:5; but 
fails. 484; attends council of war. 
o]))>oses surremior of citj', 4!I5; a 
prisoner in city, 533. 



Lawrence. John, wounded at Beaufort, 

;uo. 

Lee.General Charles, appointed to com- 
mand Southern Department. i;U; 
sketch of him, l.'*4, li>5 ; sets out for 
the .South, arrives at Charlestown, 
1;j5, 137; assumes command of State 
troops, 140; orders Moidtrie to 
reconnoitre British trooi)s on Long 
Island, U4; to attack them, 144; 
proposes to build bridge, 14li: i>r<)- 
jKJses to relieve Moultrie from com- 
mand, 147; orders to Moultrie 
during the battle, 157: visits the 
fort, approves ^Moultrie's conduct of 
the battle, l.")8 ; reviews the garrison, 
KK) : undertakes expedition to Flor- 
ida. 2t)l, 202: called to Philadelphia 
and abandons it, 203; mentioned, 
3(H, 321 ; his treason; while prisoner 
suggests plan of operation to Sir 
William Howe. 421. 

Lee. Richard Henry, his position in 
regard to Revolution, WX 

Lee, William, exile to St. Augustine, 
8.-7. 

Legare. Benjamin, Lieutenant of mili- 
tia, 12: money of, on board vessel 
seized by Lord William Campbell, 
his company seize his lordship's 
chariot ;iiid horses in retaliation, 
action of council thereon, !>!). 

Legare. Joseph, estate sequestered by 
the British, 72it. 

Legare. Samuel. Lieutenant of militia, 
11; srt' Benjamin Legare-. 

Leger. Peter, Captain of provincial 
militia, 11. 

Lemmonds, Captain of Davie's corps, 
.-.7!i. 

Lempri^re, Captain Clement, captures 
powder. 21 ; appointed to command 
ship rrits/tcr, 82. 

L'Enfant. Major, French ofHcer, takes 
part in siege of Savannah, attempts 
to kindle the abatis, 411, 412; 
wounded, 417. 

Lenuds's Ferry, White's cavalry 
routed at. liU. 

Lesesne, Thomas, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14 : present at battle of Fort 
Moultrie, 143. 



880 



INDEX 



Leslie, Major General Alexander (Br.), 
Sir Henry (liiiloii scuds liiiu to 
Virginia to ctKiperato with Corn- 
wallis's movement from South 
Carolina, Sll, .h12, 847. 

Lewis, Rev. John, arrested by order of 
Curnwallis and sent an exile to St. 
Auj^iistinc, 723. 

Lexington, the battle of, precipitate.s 
the Revolution, 1, 2; mentioned, 

Lexington County, mentioned, 10. 

Liberty Tree Party, mentioned, 40. 

Lillington, General John, of North 
Carolina, his brij^adc part of Lin- 
coln's force at Charlestown, 427; 
term of service expires, his brigade 
leaves, 448; mentioned, 4"/2, 508. 

Lincoln, General Benjamin, appointed 
to command Soul hern Department, 
arrives, 3130 ; trouble with militia, 
334, 342, 343; appeals to Governor 
Rutledge, 34:); calls council of war 
at Purrysburg, .344 ; determines to 
attack Provost, 344, .'U!); advances 
into Georgia, ooO ; calls on Moultrie 
to send him Continental troops, 350; 
calls Huger to join him, 350 ; regards 
Prevost's invasion as feint, 3."i;>; 
Moultrie's urgent message to him dis- 
regarded, 353, ,3.54 ; marches slowly to 
join Moultrie, 3,55, 37t), 377 ; letter 
to Moultrie intercepted, 377; his 
delay criticised, 377; reaches Dor- 
chester too late, 382; determines to 
attack British post on Stono, .'Wi ; 
unpoimlarity of, asks to be relieved 
of correspondence with jMoultrie on 
subject, 383, 384; instructs Moultrie 
to cooperate in attack on Stono, 38(5 ; 
marches to the attack, 387; his for- 
mation for batlh; ci)mmended, 387; 
his orders disobeyed, 388; he re- 
treats, 380 ; iiivit(!s D'Estaing's coop- 
eration, .'i!Kt; establishes camp at 
Sheldon, 402; orders all ofbcers to 
join their commands, 404; takes 
command at Sheldon, 404; at si'ge 
of Savannaii refuses to allow Prevost 
to remove women and children, 4(»S, 
409; D'Estaing informs him siege 
must be raised or a storm at tempt e(' 



409; issues order of battle. 412; 
commands column in per.son, 414; 
raises tiie siege, 418. 419; sends Colo- 
nel Laurens to Wasliington for reiin- 
forcements, 427 ; his fori-e at Charles- 
town, 427, 428, 429, 430 ; orders 
Moultrie to Dorchester, 4.'C); with- 
draws ships from Charlestown bar, 
438, 4:«), 440; letter to Wasliington 
on his defence of Charlestown, 442; 
the same considered, 443,444; does 
not oppose British crossing the Ash- 
ley, 453, 1.54; receives summons and 
answers it, 4<)2 ; his last decisive act, 
4()3; calls council of war, 472; re- 
fuses to allow General Duportail 
to leave garrison, 485; calls another 
council of war, citizens again inter- 
fere, 485; receives encouraging let- 
ter from Governor Rutledge, 488; 
receives a second summons from 
Clinton, calls another council of 
war, but does not invite Gadsden, 
495; discusses terms of capitulation 
with Clintcm, 4<Hi. 497. 498, 499; 
negotiations ended, .500; citizens 
memorialize him to accept terms 
offered, .502, 50.'5; agrees to sur- 
render, .503; conduct of the siege 
considered, 513, 514. 

Lindley, Fort, inhabitants of Saluda 
take refuge in, from Indians, re- 
lieved by Major Downes, battle at, 
194. 

Lindsay, Major, sabred by Captain 
Lang of (Br.) Dragoons while 
wounded on ground, 832. 

Lisle, John, Lieutenant Colonel of 
militia, 12; accepts protection ami 
a command uiuler the British and 
carries over a battalion with arms 
to Simiter, 619, (i20 : mentioned. 709. 

Livingston, Robert R., of New York, 
opposes a declaration of indepen- 
dence, 1(18. 

Livingston, William, arrested by order 
of Coriiwallis, sent exile to St. Au- 
gustiiie. 724. 

Lloyd, Mr., killed at Savannah, 417. 

Locke, Colonel Francis, of North Caro- 
lina, at battle of Kamsour's Mill, 580, 
.581,582. 



INDEX 



881 



Locke, Colonel, ncphow of above, killed, 
74:.. 

Locock, Aaron, an ail<lresser, H'M. 
Logan, Francis, Captain at Ninety-Six, 

'.»1. 
Logan, Captain George, killed at Black 

Minf,'o, 7»!i, IM. 
Logan, William, exile to St. Augustine, 

Long Canes, battle at, 830, 831, 832. 

Long, Felix, mission to German set- 
tlors, ."4. 

Long Island, Now York, battle of, men- 
tioned. •_*-'!l, •-•••I*. L'itl, 4'JO. 

Long Island, South Carolina, descrip- 
tion of, 1.36 ; Sir Henry Clinton lands 
on. 14.5. 

Love, Captain, of Tories, is attacked 
by Hraiidon, liis wife killed in the 
melee, (iOl. 

Loveday, John, arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717. 718. Tlil. 

Lowe, Major, reenforccs Laurens on 
skirmish line, 454. 

Lowndes, Charles, takes protection, 
7L'!>. 

Lowndes, Rawlins, member of commit- 
tee of Provincial Congress, 5 ; men- 
tioned, '22: for moderate measures, 
.'50, 31 ; mentioned, 53 ; reply as 
speaker to Governor's speech, 55, 
5(1; opposes ajjjjressive measures, 
81' ; conveys thanks of Congress to 
Drayton, 84, 8."); opposes violent 
measures, 88; on committee to jire- 
pare plan of government, 110; op- 
poses setting up a government, 110, 
111, 112 ; member of Legislative 
Coiuicil under ne.v constitution, 
ll."»; mentioned, I'JO, 122; elected 
Trpsident and approves new consti- 
tution, 241 ; his inconsistent con- 
duct, 242. 243, 244: uiu-omfortahle 
position, 2ti4i, 2<i7 ; speech as Presi- 
dent to Assembly on its ;iiljournment, 
27!l; declines election as (iovernor, 
281; secomls resolution of inquiry 
as to Howe's right to command, iMXi; 
gives quartermaster power to im- 
press wagons, 32(i ; hays an embargo, 
331 ; apiK)ints brigadier generals, 
•3l 



J 



331 ; hesitates to arm North Carolina 
troops, 332; mentioned, 535 ; retires, 
5:55. 

Luckie, Mr., killed at Augusta, 737. 

Lushington, Richard, arrested by order 
of Cornwallis, sent exile to St. Au- 
gustine, 717, 718, 719. 

Luzerne, Mons. de la, a letter in 
regard to sacrifice of Southern 
States for the independence of the 
others. 540. 

Lyles, Colonel, joins Richardson's snow 
campaign, il5. 

Lynch, Thomas, in attendance on 
Continental Congress, 22; his ab- 
sence noted, 100; reelected mem- 
ber of Continental Congress, 124; 
his illness, 124; his position as rep- 
resented by John Adams, 1(54; joined 
by his son, KiS; signs letter trans- 
mitting Declaration of Independence, 
178; on committee of Congress to 
confer with Washington on military 
system, 287; his death, 5.">4. ^ 

Lynd^ Thomas, Jr., member of com- ai ^"^ 
mittee of Provincial Congress, 5; 
Captain of Regulars, 14 ; on commit- 
tee to prepare plan of government, 
110; elected additional member of 
Continental Congress, 124; sketch 
of, 125; joins his father, 1(55; signs 
Declaration of Independence, 178; 
perishes at sea, 5.'^. 

Lytle, Colonel Archibald, of North Car- 
olina, remains in Charlestown when 
rest of Lillington's brigade leaves, 
448. 

McAfierty, a Whig forced to act as 
guide misleads Cornwallis, 808. 

Mc Arthur, Major Archibald (Br.), com- 
mands SeviMily-lirst Kegiinent, 44() ; 
stationed at Cheraw, 5(;2; attempts 
to capture the Ayers, ('A2, 043, 
()41; sends his sick to Georgetown, 
they are captured with guard, 645, 
(i4<;. 

McCall, Captain James, 01 ; intrusted 
with expedition to capture Indian 
agent Cameron, is ambuscaded and 
cajilured, 180, 1!K); account of his 
captivity, 1!K). 101; his escape, 101, 
102; joins Sumter on the Catawba, 



882 



INDEX 



633 ; with Clarke at Mnsgrove's Mills, 
087; joins Clarke in ciTort to recover 
Georgia, 733; aijplies to Pickens 
without success, 733; induces some 
to accompany hini, 733; with Clarke 
lays siege to Augusta, 7;34; takes 
jmrt in battle of Fishdani, 821. 8ii2, 
823; takes part in battle of Black- 
stock, S2(i, X27, 828; with Clarke de- 
termines on move against Ninety- 
Six, 830; is joined l)j' Colonel Few 
of Georgia, 831 ; takes part in battle 
of Long Canes, is wounded, 831, 832 ; 
mentioned, 850. 

McCall, John, Jr., Captain of militia, 
11. 

McCauley, James, with Major James 
forms nucleus of Marion's brigade, 
649. 

McClure, Captain John, disperses To- 
ries at ]Mcil)ley's Meeting-house, 588; 
takes part in battle at Williamson's 
l)lantation, .5iM, 595; killed at Hang- 
ing Rock, 030. 

McClure, Ensign, wounded at Hanging 
Kiick, (130. 

McClure, James, condemned to death, 
but rescued, 594, 599. 

McClure, Miss, rides to Sumter's camp, 
.594. 

McClure, Mrs., struck by Huck, 594. 

McCottry, William, joins Marion, .577 ; 
forms part of nucleus of Marion's 
brigade, 649 ; pursues Tarleton, 
650. 

McCoy, Captain, Tories search for, and 
failing to find torture his wife, 610, 
(ill. 

McCrady, Edward, arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717, 718, 719. 

McCreary, Robert, Captain at Ninety- 
Six, 91. 

McCulloch, Captain (Br.), killed at 
Hanging Rock, 630. 

McDonald, Adam, Captain of Regulars, 
14; deceives Lord William Cainj)- 
bell ; 64,65; his comjiany rcenforcf! 
Fort Johnson, (i9 ; Major of First 
Regiment. 204. 

McDonald, Captain (Br.), wounded at 
Charlotte, 745. 



McDonald, Donald, Tory leader, de- 
feated at Moore's Creek, 579. 

McDonald, James, Captain of Regu- 
lars, 14: present at battle of Fort 
Moultrie, 143 ; Captain of Dragoons, 
298. 

McDonald, Sergeant, rescued by Mar- 
ion, 700. 

McDowell, Captain, takes part in battle 
of Ramsour's ]\Iill, .583. 

McDowell, Colonel Charles, of North 
Carolina, cnihodies force. 611 ; is at- 
tacked by Dunlap, ()14, 615 ; takes 
post at Cherokee Ford, 631, 632; 
sends message to Sevier and Shelby, 
632; detaches party to take Thick- 
etty Fort,6;54 ; to watch Ferguson's 
movements, 635 ; advances into 
South Carolina, 68(i ; mentioned, 
6SK) ; victors of INIusgrove's Mills form 
junction with, 731: determines to 
raise volunteers against Ferguson, 
731 , 732 ; ambuscades Ferguson, 755 ; 
mentioned, 758 ; strength of his party 
at Sycamore Shoals, 7(i0 ; undertakes 
mission to Gates asking for a gen- 
eral ofticer, 7()2. 763.- 

McDowell, Major Joseph, of North 
Carolina, movements and attempted 
capture of, 581 ; assumes command 
of his brother's men, 7(;3; addresses 
them, 763; strength of his party at 
King's jNIountain, 789. 

McGinnis, Lieutenant, of Allen's New 
Jersey (Tory) Regiment, killed at 
King's ^Mountain. 803. 

McGirth, Daniel, Lieutenant Colonel of 
Florida Rangers (Tory), 201; story 
of, 201, 202. ' 

McGirth, James, Lieutenant Colonel of 
militia, 12. 

Mcintosh, Alexander. ISIajor of Second 
Regiment. 14: Lieutenant Colonel of 
First Rifle Regiment, 127; joins 
Moultrie, 3.52; posted on Charles- 
town lines, 357 : pressed by Moultrie 
to carry message to Prevost, 374. 

Mcintosh, Lachlan, of (Jeorgia, refuses 
to surrender Sunbury, 324; com- 
mands (ieorgia Continentals, 404; 
marches to Savannah, 41t); leads 
column at Savannah, 416; commands 



INDEX 



883 



militia at siego of Charlestown. 440, 
4")."); two of Ills horses killeil, 457 ; 
advises ('vaciiat ion of tiie towii,4()(): 
altemis council of war, 472; urges 
evacuation, 47.H, 47<); mentioned, 
4S4. 

Mcjunkin, Major, mentioned, ()87. 

McKenzie, Lieutenant, of Seventy- 
first Kejiiment (Br.), criticises 
Tark'ton's statements in regard to 
battle of Hanging Kock, (>.''l. 

McLaughlin, Captain Thomas, wounded 
at Heaiifort, :!4(). 

McLauren, Evan, oi>poscs revolution- 
ary movement, 4."> ; takes part in 
treaty with Williamson, !tO, <t2. 

McMahon (Br.), citizens arrested 
under direction of, 71(5; sketch of, 
TKi; delivers verbal message of 
Balfour in reply to memorial of citi- 
zens, arrested, 7_'(l, 723. 

McQueen, Alexander, Lieutenant of 
Regulars, 1 i. 

Macpheison, Major (Br.), Brier Creek, 
:m4. 

Maham, Hezekiah (misprinted in tpr( 
Mii/uni), company posted on Sulli- 
van's Lsland, 144; Major of Dra- 
goons. 298. 

Maitland, Captain, of ship; powder 
taken frnm. 22. 

Maitland. Lieutenant Colonel (Br.), 
left in coniniaiiil of Siono, .'JS.'}; com- 
mands at battle on Stono, ;{8.S, ."{Si); 
(•ailed ill from Beaufort to Savan- 
nah, 404 ; tlmugh ill, reaches Savan- 
nah, 4(m;, 407 ; bears brunt of battle, 
411 : his dealh. 44r). 

Malmedy, Colonel Trancis, Marrjuess 
de France, covers tlaiik of Lincoln's 
march against Stono, ;?8"; in com- 
mand at I^-mpricre's Point, 4S:!; 
abamloiis it. 4>^>: sent out of the 
ti>wn, 4.s<l: reported death of, 4K!i. 

Manby, Captain (Br.), at Savannah, 
411. 

Manderson, George, captures Thomas 
■.Vyer, (;44. 

Manigault, Gabriel, retirement of, 
.-.:«5. 

Manigault. Gabriel, Jr., takes protec- 
tiou, 729. 



Marion County, mentioned. 10. 

Marion, Francis, inentiuned, l.*?; Cap- 
tain (if Regulars, 14: his company 
at Fort .loliiisoii, (IT ; ^fajor of Sec- 
o!i(l Regiment, 127; jiresent at battle 
of Fort Moultrie, 14:i ; Lieutenant 
Colonel of Second Regiment, 204; 
posted in lines at Charlestown, X>1 ; 
gallant conduct at siege of Savan- 
nah, 415; commands corps at Dor- 
chester, 4.'!(i ; sent out of the town, 
G.'W ; sketch of, ."•(JS, 5(19, .")70, .">71 , .")72 ; 
joins De Kalb, .")77 : Gates disdains 
him,()49; sends him to collect boats, 
I <)49: he takes coniniand of his par- 
I tisan brigade, (>.")! ; his movement 
j diverts march of wagons and escort 
for Camden, ()()7; returns to Port's 
Ferry, rescues prisoners at Nel- 
son's Ferry, ()99, 700; dispatches 
James to watch AVemyss, 700 ; calls 
on Major Peter Horry, advances to 
give battle, retreats, 701 ; retires to 
North Carolina, 701 : mentioned, 
709; sends .lames back to obtain in- 
telligence, 747; returns to South 
Carolina, 748; attacks and defeats 
the Tories at Black Mingo, 749: pro- 
poses joining Continental army in 
North Carolina, dissuaded by Hugh 
Horry, 751; his hard fare, 752; 
threatens British communication, 
815; Tarleton dispatched to break 
up his i>arty, SKi; moves to meet 
Tarleton. SK;; retreats, SIS: "The 
Swamp Fox," so name<l by Tarle- 
ton, 819; mentioned, S49. 

Marion. Lieutenant Gabriel, present at 
!)attl(> of Fort Moultrie, 143. 

Marlboro County, mentioned, 10. 

Martin, Captain, of Davie's corps, ."O; 
Davie sends him to warn Sumter of 
Gates's defeat. fiSO. 

Martin, Captain, killed at .\ugusta, 
7:!5. 

Martin, Edward, condemned to death 
by British, but rescued, 5t»4,599. 

Martin, Hawkins, estate sequestered 
by British, 729. 

Martin, Josiah, (lovernor of North 
Carolina, on board iScor/^/o??, British 
ship, in Charlestown harbor, 131. 



884 



INDEX 



Martin, Laughlin, charges against, 23 ; 
escapes punislinient, '24. 

Martin, William, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Maryland, quota of troops, 289; popu- 
lation of, 'J;i4. 

Mason, General, of Virginia, present 
at battle <>u Stono, oS~. 

Mason, Richard, Lieutenant, present 
at battle nf Fort Moultrie, 143. 

Mason, William, Captain of Regulars, 
14. 

Massachusetts, requests advice of Con- 
tinental Congress, 10.5 ; Congress's 
action thereon, lOG ; quota of troops, 
28J), 294, 390; population of, 294. 

Mathews, John, Ensign of militia, 
12 ; Speaker of General Assembly, 
208; member of Continental Con- 
gress, protests against sacrifice of 
South Carolina for independence of 
other states, 5;>9, 540, 541; estate 
sequestered by British, 7'29; Wash- 
ington writes of appointment f>f 
Greene to command Southern De- 
partment, .S4.S. 

Mathews, Captain John Raven, men- 
tioned, ;!!)('). 

Mathews's Plantation, affair at, 39(1, 
397. 

Mayson, James, Lieutenant Colonel of 
militia, 12; Major of Third Regi- 
ment, 14 ; occupies Fort Charlotte, 
37 ; returns to Ninety-Six with pow- 
der and lead, 37; joins Richardson, 
89; with Williamson enters into 
treaty with Robinson, 92; men- 
tioned, 95 ; Major of Third Regiment, 
r27. 

Mazyck, Daniel, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14; present at battle of Fort 
Motiltrie, 143. 
Mazyck, Isaac, an addresser, .5.'!(). 
Mecklenburg, North Carolina, Decla- 
ration of Independence mentioned, 
."»78. 
Merchant, Mr., sent by Council of 
Safety with Matthew Floyd to Lord 
William (.'ampbell, 93. 
Middleton, Arthur, member of com- 
mittees of Provincial Congress, 4,5; 
letter to, in regard to powder, 17; 



action thereon, 17, 18, 19; dominant 
in council, '22; vigorous measures, 
i>0, 31; leader of progressive party in 
absence of Gadsden, 4f); letter to 
Drayton on mission to interior, 49, 
50, .58 ; presses for aggressive meas- 
nres, 82, 8H; on committee to pre- 
pare plan of government, 110; 
mentioned, 112 ; elected member of 
Continental Congress, 1'24; John 
Adams's opinion of him, ICA; and 
mistake in regard to, 1(J5; his posi- 
tion in regard to revolution, 173; 
signs Declaration of Independence, 
178; elected representative under 
Constitution of 1778, 280 ; prisoner 
of war, 534; exile to St. Augustine, 
857. 

Middleton, Charles, estate sequestered 
by the British, 729. 

Middleton, Henry, mentioned, 22; on 
Council of Safety, 83; his absence 
noted, 100 : returns from Congress at 
Philadelphia, 103; on committee to 
prepare plan of government, 110; 
member of Legislative Council under 
new constitution, 115; his position 
in regard to Revolution as repre- 
sented by John Adams. 1154, 165; 
elected Senator under Constitution 
of 1778, 280 ; retirement of, 5;>5. 

Middleton, Hugh, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14; Captain at Ninety-Six, !K). 

Miles, John, hanged by Cornwallis, 
711. 

Military District, 10. 

Military System of the Revolution, 
284, '285, •2S(i, 287, 2.SS, '289, 290. 291, 
292, 293, 294, 295, 29G, 297, 333, o.ii, 
335. 

Militia, Chariest own Regiment of. 11 ; 
trouble with, ()2, <!3, Ot; mutinous 
conditiou of, ;U1, 342; of country 
demand their discharge, 395. 

Miller, I. D., wounded at Beaufort, 
340, 3'.Hi. 

Miller, Stephen, Major of militia, 
12. 

Milligan, Dr. George, estimate of mili- 
tia, 11 ; Surgeon tf> Royal garrisons, 
12; threatened with tar and feath- 
ers, 58, 



INDEX 



885 



Milligan, Jacob, liis gallant action at 
the liattlt' of K.irl Moiiltrip. KW. 

Mills, Colonel Ambrose, pursues Colo- 
nel tlones, (iH ; coniinamls North 
(Carolina Loyalists at Kinjj's ISIoiin- 
taiii. 7S,S; taken anil exci-ntcii. SO."). 

Mills, Colonel W. H., sent witli (Iclach- 
nient In unanl sick, is captured, tJ-KJ ; 
nifntiuncil, TO'.i. 

Milton, Captain John, of Georgia, 
ac-conipaiiii s Marion, (wl. 

Miralles, Don Juan de, Spanish agent, 
proposes division against Georgia, 
433, 4:u. 

Mischianza, festival given in honor of 
Sir ANiiliani Howe, mentioned and 
descril).-,!. 4-_*--'. 

Mitchell, Ephraim, Lieutenant of Reg- 
ulars, 14. 

Mitchell, Captain, killed at Charle.s- 
town, ."><M!. 

Mitchell, William, Lieutenant of 
Hangers, U. 

Mobley's Meeting-house, atTaii at, ."»,S8. 

Monck's Corner, (teneral Huger posted 
at, Tarleton attacks post and cuts 
it to ))ieces, 4(i<i, 4ti7, 4()S, 4<i!». 

MonciiefF, CaptJiin (Br.), constructs 
defences uf Savannah, 40,S: couiuiis- 
sioner of capiur( .s, .>44 ; designs new 
■works for Cliariestown, .Sl'i. 

Moore, General James, of North Caro- 
lina, command of troops devolves 
upon, :V>4, .Wl.'i. 

Moore, James, a Tory, assembles party, 
brings on battle of Ramsour's i\Iill, 
5K0, .^.Sl ; captured byCai>fain John- 
son, but escapes, (>."{;{; surrenders 
Thicketty Fort. IVX'). 

Moore, Colonel Patrick, commands 
foraging jiarty at King's Mountain, 
7X.S. 

Morris, Captain, of (Br.) navy, mor- 
tally wounded at battle of I-'ort 
Moultrie. I.V.. 

Morrow, Mr., killed in siege of Charles- 
town. 4.')7. 

Motte, Charles, Cajitain of militia, 11 ; 
C.'iptain of Kev'ulars, 14; present ;it 
l)attle of Fori Moultrie, 143: Major 
of Second Regiment, killed at Savan- 
nah, 41(3, 417. 



Motte, Isaac, Lieutenant Colonel of 
Second Regiment, 14; takes posses- 
sion of Fort Johnson, ()7 ; Lieutenant 
Colonel of First Regiment, V27 ; pres- 
ent at battle of Fort Moultrie, 143; 
Colonel of First Regiment, 2()4; 
member of council, 2Si! ; mentioned, 
.■)().") ; summoned to consider Prevost's 
terms of capitulation, '.Ht'2. 

Mouat, John, Lieutenant of Regulai's, 
14; arrested by order of Cormvallis, 
sent exile to St. Augustine, 724. 

Moultrie, Alexander, Lieutenant of 
militia, 12; arrested by order of 
Corn wall is, sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717, 718, 719 ; allowed to take 
l)assage in private schooner, 724. 

Moultrie, Fort, battle of, 141, 142, 143, 
1(>2; taken, 4i)l ; British rejoice, 
4<t2, 4<t3. 

Moultrie, John, Royal Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor of Florida, mentioned, 203. 

Moultrie, Thomas, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14 ; present at battle of Fort 
Moultrie, 143; captain, killed at 
siege of Charlestown. 482, oOO. 

Moultrie, William, Colouel of militia, 
11; Colonel of Regulars, 1."); men- 
tioned, 22; ordered to furnish men 
to seize and guard ship Prosper, 7ii; 
intrusted with public safety, 82; 
ridicules Drayton's pretensions to 
naval affairs, 100; but cordially 
supports his measures, 101 ; crosses 
to Haddrell's Point and opens guns 
on British ships, 101; mentioned, 
127 ; commands fort on Sullivan's 
Lsland, 14.">: ordered to detach force 
to attack enemy on Long Island, 
144 ; his neglect of Lee's orders, 147 ; 
Ix'e proposes to relieve him of com- 
mand, 147; defects of his military 
character, 148; his coolness and 
confidence, l.'il, l.Vi; his battle, l.")3, 
154, 15."), l."i<;, l.")7, 1")8, l.">Jt; his vic- 
tory, KM), UJl, KG; in Lee's Florida 
expedition, 203; made Brigadier 
(Jeneral. 204; mentioned, 253, 30.T ; 
ordered to send linger to support 
Howe. 32."), 32t); marches to Purrys- 
burg, 3.'V2 ; correspondence with 
Charles Piuckuey, 3(33, 334, 33o; 



886 



INDEX 



attacks and defeats British at Beau- 
fort, .S:{!l, .340; correspondence with 
Pinckney, 340, 341 ; Liiicohi sends 
him to confer with Riitledge about 
militia, 343; his estimate of their 
numbers, 343; on council of war, 
344; protests airainst Rutled^e's in- 
terference with nianajjement of war, 
;?4<); Lincoln instructs him as to liis 
course in case Prcvost advances, 350 ; 
defence of Cliarlestown left to him, 
'iai ; sends dispatches to Lincohi and 
Rutledo;e and makes stand at Tulli- 
finy, 352; retreats before Pre'vost, 
353; sends urgent messages to Lin- 
coln, 354 ; halts at Dorchester, 354 : 
falls back upon the town, 35G ; move- 
ment criticised, 35(), 357; conflict of 
authority with Governor and coun- 
cil, 359, 3(J0; opposes surrender of 
the town, 3G0, 302; his estimate of 
forces, 3()2, 3fJ3, ;)i>i, 3(;o ; determines 
to fight, 375; neglect of Lincoln's 
instructif)ns to cooperate with move- 
ment against Stono, 38G ; fails to 
cooperate promptly with Lincoln, 
389, 390; sends galleys to break 
up communication on Stono, 391 ; 
attends General Assembly, 401 ; em- 
ploys Jasper as a scout, 402; men- 
tioned, 4;>4 ; ordered to Dorchester, 
4.'55 ; reports Lincoln no militia doing 
duty, 43(3 ; taken sick, 437; attends 
council of war, 472; complains of 
the loss of Fort Moultrie. 492; his 
position as to the siege of Charles- 
town, 512; a prisoner in city, 5.33; 
protests against arrest of citizens, 
721. 

Moultrie, William, Jr., Lieutenant of 
Regulars, 14; present at battle of 
Fort Moultrie, 143. 

Mouzon, Henry, joins Marion, 577,(549, 
748; disabled by wound received at 
Black Mingo, 750. 

Moylan's Horse, part of Colonel Wash- 
ington's command, 451 ; routed, 493, 
494 ; strciigtli of corps, 837. 

Musgrove, Edward, residence of. 
licaihpuirters of Colonel liincs. 
i;91. 

Musgrove's Mills, battle of, (;.S8, («>, 



: nOO, cm, KY2, 693. f,94, 695, 696, 697, 

098. 
Myddleton, Colonel Charles S., protests 
against Williams's appointment as 
Brigadier General, 708; see Middle- 
ton, Charles. 
Naime, Lord, sent men sick froni 

Clieraw, captured, (>40. 
Nash, Colonel Francis, of North Carc- 
lina, ordered to report to General 
Lee to supersede Moultrie, 147. 

Naval Engagement, Charlestown har- 
bor, 74, 75, 70, 77, 78. 

Navy, of South Carolina, 216, 217, 218, 
219; fleet cruise to clear coast, bat- 
tle with British ship Ya n no ut/i, the 
Ra)i(!oIp/i blown up, 2-34. 

Navy, Continental, abandons defence 
of Charlestown harbor, 438, 439, 440, 
441. 

Neel, Andrew, elected Colonel, 590; 
Lieutenant Colonel Lisle brings over 
a battalion to, 019, (J20; joins Davie 
at Landsford, 023; marches with 
Sumter to Rocky Mount, takes part 
in battle, is mortally wounded, 
(i21. 

Neel, Thomas, Colonel of militia, 12; 
joins Richardson's snow campaign, 
95 ; his regiment form part of forces 
at Charlestown at Prevost's iuva- 
siim. .304. 

Negro Slaves, number of, 295. 

Negro Troops, Ifenry Laurens's letter 
in regard to employment of, and 
Washington's reply, 313; some em- 
ployed by British, 314. 

Neilson, James, estate sequestered by 
the British, 729. 

Nelson's Ferry, ISIarion rescues pris- 
oners at. {;ti9, 700. 

Neuffer, Mr., discourages rcvolutio: - 
ary movement, 43. 

Neufville, John, elected to Privy Coun- 
cil, 282: arrested by order of Corn- 
wallis, sent exile to St. Augustine, 
723. 

Neville, Colonel, arrives A\ith dis- 
patches to Liiu'oln, 4.50. 

New Bordeaux, incnlioned. 11. 

New Hampshire, <jnola nf troops of, 
2.S9; iHipulatiuu, 2;>4. 



INDEX 



887 



New York, quota of troops of, 289; 

l>npnl;itii.ii i,f, ■2'M. 
Newbury County, iiientioiu'd, 10. 
Neyle, Ptiilip, I.ifUtcnant of Ko<julars, 

H : ai(if-ilc-c;iiiii> to Moultrie, kilk-d, 

471. 
Nichol, Thomas, mentioned, 2:'>. 
Ninety-Six, sioire of. Sit, <K), <»1, 92. 
Noble, Alexander, Captain at Niuety- 

.*;ix, '.u. 

North Ccirolina, q\iota of troops of, 289 : 
population of, 294: her Continental 
troops sent to Washinirton, :!0S; 
generous assistance of, ;^14; eontro- 
versy of delegates in rejjard to 
assistance to South Carcdina, 'M'i, 
.'ild, .•(17. :!l.s.:;i9. 

North, Edward, arrested by order of 
Coruwallis, sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717, 71S, 719. 

North, Lord, announces measures for 
foneiliation. 'J4(>, 1147. 

Ogier, Captain Lewis, accompanies 
Marion. i'C>\. 

Old Iron Works, Spartanburg, or sec- 
ond Cedar Springs, battle of, (VM, 
(;;57, o:!.s, (;:?9. (i4o. 

Oliphant, Alexander, an addresser, 

Oliphant, Dr. David, member of Coun- 
cil of Safety, H."> ; on committee to 
erect battery on Haddrell's Point, 
10(), 101 ; member of Legislative 
Council, ll.'i. 

Oliphant, John, wounded at Heaufort, 

Oliphant, William, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars. 14: Captain, present at battle 
of Fort Moultrie. I'.".. 

O'Neal, Henry, a Tory, arrest of, or- 
dered, .s.s. 9.".. 

Orangeburgh, military district of, 10. 

Ostatoy, Indi;iii town, destroyed by 
^\■illiamsl>ll, l'."7. 

Owen, Mr. John, wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Parker, Commodore Hyde (Hr. ), com- 
mands naval f<irce convoying llritish 
expedition against S:ivannah, .'{27. 

Parker, John, elected member of Privy 
Council, 2S2 : summoneil to consider 
I'rtvost's terms of capitulation, .T(i2. 



Parker, Lieutenant, wounded at Sa- 
vaiiiiali, 4i;!, 417. 

Parker, Sir Peter, sails for America, 
130; ajipears f)ff ('arolina coast, 
1:J0; anchors otT it, i:57, 139; ves- 
sels composing his Meet, 149, 150; 
opens fire on Fort Moultrie, l.">0; his 
battles, l.")0, l.")l, l.J2, 1.53, 1,54; is 
wounded, 10.5. 

Parker, Colonel Richard, of Virginia, 
killed at Cliarlestown, 483, 50(J. 

Parker, William, estate sequestered by 
llritisli, 729. 

Parliament of England, meets, 128; 
preparations for coercing America, 
12S, 129, l.iO. 

Parsons, James, member of committee 
of Provincial Congress, .5 ; Lieuten- 
ant C(donel of militia, 11 ; on secret 
committee, 18 ; for moderate meas- 
ures, 30; elected Vice President, but 
declines, 244 ; death of, 534-.5.35. 

Parsons, John, wounded at Beaufort, 

:m. 

Parsons, Lieutenant, wounded at Sa- 
vannah, 417. 

Patterson, General, crosses Savannah 
River with reenforcements for Sir 
Henry Clinton, 440; gains Charles- 
town Neck, 45.5 ; commands at 
Charlestown, .502; relieved on ac- 
<-(.unt of ill health, 715. 

Peace Commissioners, appointed, 250; 
their arrival, 257: reception of, and 
attempt to negotiate, 2,5S, 2.59, 2(>0, 
2()1, 202, 2(;3, 2(>4; sail for England, 
205. 

Pearis, Captain Richard, joins King's 
party, 89; takes part with Robin- 
son in treaty with Williamson, 92; 
captured by Richardson, sent to 
Charlestown a prisoner, '.n;: treats 
with people of Ninety-Six for their 
l)ar(des. 525. 

Pearson, Lieutenant, inhumanly man- 
gled by Tarleton's men, 520. 

Penn, John, member of Congress of 
North Carolina, letter to Henry 
Laurens. .315. ,310. 

Penn, Governor, mentioned, 2. 

Pennsylvania, quota of troops of, 2S;t: 
population <>f, 2'.>4. 



888 



INDEX 



Percy, Rev. William, addresses meet- j 
\[\'j; upim proimiluatioii of the 
Declaration of Iiideiifiidence, 179. 

Peroniieau, James, Lieutenant of mili- 
tia, I'J; Lii'Ulenant of Rejiulars, 14. 

Peters, Christopher, exile to St. Augus- 
tine, .s."»7. 

Petit, Captain, Davie's corps ambus- 
caded, li'J'J ; and wounded, t>23. 

Petrie, Lieutenant, wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Peyton, Captain, of the Virginia line, 
killed, TiOi;. 

Phepoe, Thomas, Lieutenant of militia, 
V>. 

Philips, Lieutenant, of Virginia, killed, 
48G. 

Philips, Samuel, sent by Ferguson to 
Back-water men, 750. 

Pickens, Andrew, mentioned, 13; Cap- 
tain at Ninety-Six, 90; takes part 
with AVilliamson in treaty with 
Robinson, !I2; appears as a leader, 
assembles militia, attacks and de- 
feats Boyd at Kettle Creek, 338; 
mentioned, 345; his militia deserts, 
39(5; hangs upon the flanks of 
Patterson, 447; sent into Georgia. 
.528; upon fall of Charlestowu halts 
at Ninety-Six, 530 ; does not second 
proposed movement into North 
Carolina, 531, 532; pi-isoner on 
parole, 533; plantation plundered 
by Dunlap, regards himself released 
from his parole, sends message to 
Colonel Cruger, 834. 

Pinckney, Charles, member of com- 
mittee of Provincial Congress, 5; 
Colonel of militia, 11; mentioned, 
22; for vigorous measures, 30; but 
regarded as uncertain, 31, ,32; on 
committee on state of colony, 73; 
member of Legislative Council, 115 : 
elected Senator under Constitution 
of 1778, member of Privy Council, 
282; correspondence with Moultrie, 
333, 334, 'Xi-), 341 , 342, :U7, 348 ; mem- 
ber of council on capitulation, 302; 
member of Privy Council, goes out 
of town witli (iovernor Rut ledge, 
405; comes and gives his i)arole, 5:?3. 

Pinckney, Charles, Jr., elected repre- 



sentative under Constitution of 1778, 
2.S(). 

Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, mem- 
ber of committees of Provincial 
Congress, 4, 5; Lieutenant of 
militia, 11 ; Captain of Regulars, 14 ; 
letter to, in regard to powder, and 
action thereon, 17; his company at 
Fort Johnson, 07 ; on committee on 
state of colony, 7.'5 : public safety 
intrusted to, 80; detailed to erect 
battery on Haddrell's Point, 101; 
on committee on recommendation 
of Continental Congress as to State 
government, 108; on committee to 
prepare plan of government, 110; 
Lieutenant Colonel of First Regi- 
ment, 120; Colonel, 204: teller on 
division in Assembly, 241 ; elected 
representati^■e under (.'onstitution of 
1778, 2.S0; mentioned, 305: impa- 
tient of inaction joins "Washington, 
returns to his regiment. 310; takes 
Ijart in the invasion of Florida, 322; 
commands Fort ^loultrie and fires 
upon British fleet as it passes, 400; 
attends council of war and protests 
against evacuation of the town, 470; 
withdrawn from Fort Moultrie, 483; 
undertakes to supply garrison with 
fresh meat, but fails, 483, 484; 
attends another council of war, 
opposes surrender of city, 495, 512; 
a prisoner in Charlestown, 533. 

Pinckney, Thomas, Captain of Regu- 
lars, 14 : commands battery on James 
Island, 143; elected representative 
nnder Constitution of 1778, 280; 
accompanies D'Estaing at Savannah, 
418; reports no one hurt at Fort 
^loultrie when Britisli fleet passed, 
401; sent out of tlie garrison. .533; 
statement of, in regard to proposed 
sacrifice of Soutlu'rn States for tho 
indeiKMidence of the others, 5.39; 
aitle-de-camp of Gates, wounded at 
Camden, 079. 

Pitt, the dying speech of. 249. 2.50, 
251 : its effect on South Carolina, 
2.52.2.53: .statue of, mentioned, 252; 
arm of. struck ofT by cannon-bull, 
471. 



INDEX 



889 



Pledger, Joseph, Lieut cuant of Kaug- 
eis, 14. 

Plummer, his Tory Battalion, repre- 
seiiti'd in convLMition, 711 ; killed at 
Kiiift's Mountain, T'.is. 

Plunder, by Hiitish, ;L'5, 3'.)2, 393, 3'.»4, 
:«C>. 4-_'4,"."h44, ".45, 54i;. 

Poaug, John, I'.arrack Master, 13. 

Poinsett, Elisha, lakes prutection, 7_".t. 

Polk, Ezekiel, Lieutenant Colonel of 
militia, I'J: Captain of Kanjiers, 14; 
deserts with eouipany auil joins 
Flctehall, .38; returns, accompanies 
Riehanlson. KS. 

Polk, Colonel William, of North Caro- 
linii, marches to join Kichardson's 
sTiuw oampaif;n, !Hi. 

Population, i.x.il. -jyi.', 'J'.K?. 

Port's Ferry, Marion crosses at, 652; 
returns to, (i'.ts. 

Postell, Benjamin, exile to St. Augus- 
tine. >H.")7. 

Postell, Colonel James, joins Marion. 
577. 

Postell, Major John, joins Marion, 
577; cai>tures Captain De Feyster 
and party, 752. 

Potterfield, Colonel William, of Vir- \ 
\i\[\\;\. niarehes to South Carolina, j 
520; mortally wounded at Camden, ; 
(•74-ti75: streufith of his corps, .S.37. ' 

Powder, seized, sent to Boston, !(!, 21. i 

Powell, George Gabriel, member of 
commit lee of I'rovineial Conjcress, I 
5; Colonel of militia. 12; on com- i 
mittee on recommendation of Con- 
tiuental Congress i)) re<;ard to Slate 
government, ll».S : death of, 5;i">. 

Powell, Robert William, sent with 
letter to (ieor^ia, SO; returns, 84; 
member of I, e;iislative Council inider 
new constitution, 115. 

Poyas, John Ernest, arrestetl by order 
of Cornwallis. sent exile to St. Au- 
gustine, 717, 71S, 71'.l. 

Presbyterians, Irish, most meu of 
Kinn's Mountain expedition, 788, 
7H".i. 

Prevost, Major General Augustine, 
commands Briiish forces in Florida, 
;{22; in.strncletl to invade (Jeorgia, 
324; sends forward two dulach- 



raents, 324 ; Colonel Campbell antic- 
ipates him in capture of Savannah. 
327; forms jiuu-tion with Colonel 
Campbell, 'SM>; makes lodgement on 
Port Koyal, 33i); is attacked by 
Moultrie and defeated, .'ilO; attacks 
and defeats Ashe at Brier Creek, 
:}i3, 344, ;i45; ailvances on Charles- 
town, 351, ;>52; Moultrie sends mes- 
sage to, asking for terms of capitula- 
tion, 3(!1 ; his answer, 'Ml ; nego- 
tiation with Governor Rutledge, '.Mi, 
3()7,3(!8; abandons the siege of the 
town, 37(i; establishes post on 
Stono, 382; returns civil answer to 
D'Estaing's sutnmons to surrender 
Savannah, 405 ; but entertains no 
idea of surrendering, 406; defies 
D'Estaing, 407; his conduct of de- 
fence, 408, 40',t, 412; mentioned, 
453. 546. 

Prevost, Lieutenant Colonel, left in 
command of British advance on the 
Savannah, 33;t: takes part in action 
at Brier Creek, 344; makes proposi- 
tion to AVilliamson, 'MS; signs Gen- 
eral Provost's answer to Moultrie's 
message, 'Ml ; leaves Stono for 
Savannah. .38.5. 

Price, Hopkins, an addresser, 53(). 

Piice. William, arrested by order of 
Cornw.-iUis. 717. 

Prince's Fort. (Br.) post, occupied by 
Colonel Innes, 614. 

Princeton, battle of, mentioned, Itil, 
229, 420. 

Prioleau, Samuel, exile to St. Augus- 
tine. 8.57. 

Privateering, resorted to, 217, 218, 219, 
220. 

Prosper, ship, mentioned. 70, 79-82. 

Proveaux, Lieutenant Adrian, present 
at Itattle of Fort Moultrie. 143. 

Pulaski, Count Casimer, arrives with 
renmants of his legion.. 312; jwsted 
in linesof Charlestown,.>,57 ; skirmish 
with British, :>.58: opposes surrender 
of Charlestown, M2, 3H~ ; pursues 
Prevost, 37t>; detached to attack 
post on Stono. .WJ : reports against 
attack. .382; present at battle tui 
Stono,. "5.87 ; ordered to join Mcintosh 



890 



INDEX 



and march to Savannah, 404 ; mor- 
tally woiindfd at Savannah, 41G. 

Purrysburg, }Io\ve"s army rallied at, 
;>;i2; Lint'olu arrives at, 332; post 
to be kept at, '.i'tO. 

Purves, John, Captain of Rangers, 14. 

Quincy. Josiah, mentioned, 7. 

Quinn, Peter, Tory scout. Ferguson 
sends dispatch hy, 780, 7H2. 

Raccoon Corps, at battle of Fort Moul- 
trie, 14."); at Prevost's invasion, .'>()3. 

Radcliffe, Thomas, Jr., takes protec- 
tion, 72ii. 

Randolph, fire-shiii, puts into port in 
distress, 217 ; engages British ship 
Yarmouth and is blown up, 234, 235. 

Randolph, Continental frigate, 217 ; 
battle with Yarmouth, British ship, 
• is blown up, 23;>, 2'-Vt. 

Ramsay, Dr. David, member of council, 
remains in town with Lieutenant 
General Gadsden, 4().j : taken into 
council of war by Gadsden, 475 ; 
prisoner of war, 534; arrested by 
order of Cornwallis, sent exile to St. 
Augustine, 717, 718, 719. 

Ramsour's Mill, North Carolina, battle 
at, 579, 580, 581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 
586. 

Ranger, Continental frigate, enfilades 
British battery, 45(). 

Rantowle's Bridge, affair at, 451. 

Rathbum, Captain of Continental frig- 
ate opposes surrender of city, 405. 

Rattlesnake, American schooner, re- 
pels attack, 3!)8. 

Rawdon, Lord Francis, mentioned, 347 ; 
to sail from New York to rccnforce 
Clinton, 435 ; injudicious conduct of, 
543; force at Camden, in command 
of, 5(jl ; sketch of liim, 5(11 : \'olun- 
tcers of Ireland, a cor])s raised by 
him, .'>(!2; advances from Camden to 
"Waxhaws, 5(J3, 57!); his orders to 
Major Rugeley in regard to deserters 
from the Royal Volunteers of Ire- 
land. 017, ()18 ; arrests citizens of 
Camden, ()18, (ili); effect of his or- 
ders, (ilit; falls back before Gates, 
<i()2: retires to Camden, r»<!5; calls 
for reenforcements, (l(>5 : arrives at 
Camden, tidti : assumes commaiul 



during Cornwallis's illness, 800; dif- 
ficulties of retreat, SIO, 811. 

Raworth, Captain of King's Rangers, 
South Carolina Provincial Regiment 
at siege of Savannah, 410. 

Rea, William, wounded at Beaufort, 
:?40. 

Read, Jacob, arrested by Cornwallis, 
sent exile to St. Augustine, 717, 718, 
710. 

Read. Colonel Joseph, letters to Wash- 
ington on position of ^'irginia in re- 
gard to Revolution, 16(5. 

Reed. Captain, of North Carolina, 
killed at Hanging Rock, G'M). 

Reed, George, Captain at Ninety-Six, 
•M). 

Reeden, Scott, hanged by Browne at 
Augusta, 7.37. 

Reese, David, arrest of, ordered, 88. 

Regiments raised by Congress, 13,14,15. 

Remmington, trial of, 34(1. 

Rendelo, Captain, wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Rhode Island, quota of troops of, 289 ; 
population of, 294. 

Richardson, Edward, Captain of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Richardson, Richard, Colonel of militia, 
12; ordered to take post on Enoree 
with three hundred men, 46; on 
committee on state of colony, 73; 
ordered to assemble force to arrest 
leaders of Royal party, 88 ; his Snow 
Campaign, m, 95, 9(i; general, 331 ; 
joins Lincoln, .332; president of 
court-martial, 333; tries to raise the 
militia, 433; his death, 526, 533; 
Tarleton burns his residence and 
disinters his body, 81(;, 817. 

Richardson, Colonel Richard (son of 
above), sent in charge of prisoners 
taken in Snow Campaign to Charles- 
town. 91!; informs ISIari(Ui of Tarle- 
lon's prcscTice and strength, 817, 818. 

Richland County, mentioned, 10. 

Richmond, Duke of, replies to Pitt's 
dying speech. 251. 

Ricketson. Jordan, hanged by Browne 
at .\ugusta, 737. 

Righton, John, wounded at Beaufort, 
;i40. 



INDKX 



891 



Riots, at riiarlcstown, 2(\H, 2<;0, 1.'70, 

-~S ; ;il I'lOStoll, 277. 

Roberts, John, killo.l liy Tories, (^50. 

Roberts, Owen, (apiiiin of artillery 
company, 12; Major of First Ke{;i- 
ineiit, 14, K2; Lieutenant Colonel, 82; 
coinnianilant n-jjiinent of artillory, 
127: Coloni-1, :«)."); killetl at battle 
of Slono, :><.M); inciitii.ned, "i.Tt. 

Robertson. Major Charles, Colonel Se- 
vier semis liini to the assistance (>f 
IMeDoweli, tllVJ; takes part in cap- 
tun- of Thiekeily Fort, HM, (i-iTt. 

Robertson, William, appointed Captain 
of Siiutli Carolina navy, 218. 

Robinson, Joseph, Major of militia, 12; 
draws assoeiation in favor of the 
King, ;i8 ; embodies King's men, 
moves against Ninety-Six, demands 
surrender of ^Villiaulson, fight en- 
sues, '.HI; eonferenee held, renews 
demand, Dl ; withdraws demand, 
enters into treaty with AVilliamson, 
i>2: his dilHiult position, !«. 

Rochambeau, Count de, arrives at New- 
jiori with Freneh forces, 8;55, 846 ; is 
'• hnttlcd up.'" 847, 855. 

Rocky Mount, New York Volunteers 
(Hr.) siatiiuicd at, .")()2 : battle of,(;24. 

Roebuck, Captain Benjamin, joins 
AVilliams on march to King's Moun- 
tain. 77<>; mentioned, 7".Xi. 

Rogers, John, Captain at Ninety-Six, 
'.II. 

Roman Catholics, alleged conspiracy 
of. 28. 

Roper, Thomas, takes protection, 721>. 

Roper, William, takes protection, 720. 

Rose, Hugh, an adilresser, 't'M'>. 

R:l imahler Job, Colonel of militia, 12. 

Roux, Captain, wounded at Savannah, 
417. 

Rowe, Christopher, Lieutenant Colonel 
of militia, 12. 

Rugeley, Major Rowland, Kawdon's 
orders in rfi^ard to deserters from 
Koyal \'ulunteirs of Ireland, dn. 

Rugeley, Colonel, Rowland K;iwdon's 
onlers to. iWl. CIS. 

Rutherford, Brigadier General Griffith, 
of Noith ('arolina, joins Richard- 
sod's suuw campaign, <J7 ; takes part 



in Williamson's expedition against 
Cherokees, l!t8; comes to the assist- 
ance of South Carolina, '.VM ; at 
Brier Creek, 344; asseml)les militia, 
57it, 580, 581,582; mentioned, (i20 : is 
wounded and cajjtured at Camden, 
(177; sent to St. Ani;iisline, 8.57. 

Rutherford, Major James, mentioned, 
.585. 

Rutledge, Edward. Lieutenant of artil- 
lery company, 12: mentioned, 22: 
his absence noted, 100 ; reelected 
member of Continental Congress, 
124 ; his position in regard to revo- 
lution as represented by John Adams, 
1(>4; opposes a declaration of inde- 
pendence, 1()8; moves for postpone- 
ment of final vote of Congress, 171 ; 
coincidence of responsil)ility as- 
sumed by his brother John and him- 
self, 171; signs Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 175, 178; alluded to in 
letter of (iadsden to Drayton, 2(i;); 
elected representative under Con- 
stitution of 1778, 280; Captain of 
artillery at battle of Beaufort, ;;40; 
sent by Lincoln with message to 
Governor Rutledge unfortunately 
takes private letter, is captured, 
letter taken, 480; prisoner of war, 
5;U ; arrested by order of Corn- 
wallis, .sent exile to St. Augustine, 
717, 718, 710. 

Rutledge, Fort, erected by Williamson, 
108. 

Rutledge, Hugh, elected representa- 
tive, 778: arrested, sent exile to St. 
Augustine, 717, 718, 710. 

Rutledge, John, in attendance on 
Continental Congress, 22; Council 
of Safety, 8;J: ab.scnce noted. 100; 
returns from Congress at Philadel- 
phia, 10;>; action in Congress as to 
State government, 105, KKI; .John 
Adams's representation as to liis 
views, 107; others' idea of indepen- 
dence, 100; on committee to iirepare 
plan of government, 110; rejiorts 
plan, 113; chosen I'resident, 115; 
his address up >n adjournment of 
Assembly. 115, IH>; reelected niem- 
bPr of Cuntiueut.il Congress, 121; 



892 



INDEX 



express informs him of appearance 
of British Heet on coast, l.'^T ; orders 
flag sent to Britisli fleet exi)laining 
fire upon one from Heet, 1.'5!); orders 
State troops to obey General L(!e, 
140, 141 ; refnses to allow abandon- 
ment of Fort Moultrie, 144 : note to 
Moultrie, 15S ; reviews garrison after 
battle, ))i'esents his sword to Jasper, 
KJO ; owing to him battle was fought, 
]()'2; his position as represented by 
John Adams, 164, 165; coincidenee 
of responsiliility assumed by his 
))rother Edward and himself, 171 ; 
defies the British army and fleet, 
174; addresses garrison and presents 
sword to Jasper, 175 ; summons 
Assembly, 179; lays before it Decla- 
ration of Independence, 180; his in- 
consistent position in regard thereto, 
182, 18.'>; speech to Genei'al As- 
sembly, 207, 2;!0, 231 ; vetoes bill to 
change constitution, 23(); speech 
thereon, 237, 238, 239; resigns presi- 
dency, 239; resolution of thanks to, 

241, 242; his inconsistent conduct, 

242, 243, 244 ; returned to Assembly 
in Gadsden's place, 245; elected 
representative under new constitu- 
tion, 280; chosen (iovernor, 281; 
extraordinary powers conferred 
njion. .'519, ,320; Lincoln appeals to 
militia, .'i-13: Lincoln sends ISIonltrie 
to confer M-ith, 343 ; orders 'Williain- 
son to embody militia and make 
incursions into Georgia, 347, 34S; 
refnses proposition of Colonel Pre'- 
vost, .348; goes to concert measures 
with Lincoln, .351; conflict of au- 
thority with Moultrie, 3.59, 3()0 ; 
agreement made, .359, .360; calls 
council to consider Prevost's offer 
of terms of cai)it nlatioti of Charles- 
town, ."562; negotiations Willi Prevost 
as to terms, .365, 'Mi. ;!67, ;>(),S, .3()!l, 
370, .371, 372, .373, 374, 375; the same 
considered, .376, .377, .378, .",79, .380, 
381 ; writes to D'Estaing to co((])erate 
with Lincoln, ."•99; makes exertions 
to get out militia, 407; dictatorial 
power conferred upon, 4.32 ; issues 
proclamation, little response thereto. 



4.33; .sends Colonel Ternant to Ha- 
vanna for assistance, 434; leaves 
the town with three of his council, 
4(i4, 4<J5; endeavors to estal)lish 
camp, 488; just escapes capture by 
Tarletou, 517; escapes into Nortli 
Carolina, 5.33; alone remains of 
Revolutionary party to carry on war, 
5.35; new leaders under him arise, 
503; appoints Williams Brigadier 
General, 7(55 ; appoints Sumter Brig- 
adier General, 813; sends him in- 
structions placing him in command 
of all forces in South Carolina, 814 ; 
api)oiuts Marion Brigadier General, 
815. 

Ryerson, Samuel, of New Jersey Vol- 
unteers, Ferguson's corps (Br,), 
787. 

Saluda. Upper, military district, 10, 

Salvador, Francis, rides to inform 
Wilkinson of Indian uprising and 
massacre, 192: accompanies Will- 
iamson, expedition against Chero- 
kees, 194; is killed and scalped, 196. 

Sanders, John, estate sequestered by 
British, 729. 

Sanders, Roger P., Captain of Regu- 
lars, 14. 

Sansum, John, arrested, sent exile to 
St. Augustine, 717, 718, 719. 

Saratoga, battle of, mentioned, IGl. 

Savage, Edward, commander of Lyt- 
tlcton's bastion, 13. 

Savage, John, Colonel of militia, 12. 

Savage, Thomas, arrested, 717, 718, 
719; released, 724; estate seques- 
tered by British, 729. 

Savage, William, Major of militia, 11. 

Savannah, Georgia, taken by British, 
326, 327, 328, 329; siege of, by 
French and Americans, 404, 405, 40(i, 
407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 
415, 41(;, 417, 418,419. 

Sawyer, Lieutenant, wounded at Beau- 
fort, :'40. 

Scene of Revolution, changes, 563. 

Schuyler, General, mentioned, 3.'i0. 

Scorpion, British ship, arrival of. Gov- 
ernor Martin of North Carolina 
aboard, 98. 

Scott, Captain Alexander, (Br.) navy. 



INDEX 



893 



commands ExpcriniPiit at battle of 
Kurt Moult rii', loses an arm, ir>»i. 

Scott, Lieutenant Joseph, of Marion's 
cfMiis, (lisalilcd, 7")tl. 

Scott, William, ('a|)tain of Rogulars, 
H; ri'onforri's Kort Jolinson, (ii>; 
volunteers in naval enj,'ajii!nient, 
tliankeil liy Congress, T'.l ; left in 
eoinmaml t>f Fort Moultrie, 4S.5 ; 
capitulates on terms, 4!M, -ilVJ. 

Scott, General, of Virfjinin, arrives 
witlmut troops, 4;M), Jri.T ; attends 
council of war, 472; sent to Hobcaw, 
472. 

Screven, Benjamin, Captain of Dra- 
j;()oiis, 21 'S. 

Scieven, General, of Georgia, killed, 

;;j4. 

Seal of State, Lord William Campbell 
takes with him, lo; another adopted, 
21.-.. 21';. 

Senoca, Indian town, burned by Will- 
iamson, l'.i7. 

Senf, Colonel, of Knjjineers, opposes 
surrender of Charlestown, ;3(>7 ; 
mentiom-d, 0711. 

Sevier, Lieutenant Colonel, of North 
Carolina, sends Major Robinson to 
MeDowell's assistance, (i.".2; Shelby 
rides to, 7.")(l; arouseo the border 
men, 7">7 ; borrows public money 
from entry taker, 75.S; strength of 
his party, 7(iO, 784; t:ikes part in 
battle, 7K,-), 789, 790, 71Hi, 7!17; 
marches into North Carolina, S()4. 

Shelby, Colonel Lsaac, joins McDowell 
at Cherokee Ford, ti.?J; captures 
Thicketty Fort, (i.'Vl, Ca"), ().".7, (hW. 
G;W, {\\\\\ at battle of Musj;rove's 

Mills. (>s(;, (;s7, Gss, r.8<), (-iio, c.oi. 
G5I2, (J<.).! ; learns of Gates's defeat and 
retreat, (i'.t.'i; forms jun<'lion with 
Mel)r)well, 7"il; determines to raise 
volunteers against Ferguson, 7.il, 
732; receives message from Fergu- 
son, long riile to Sevier, engages 
with Clarke and Williams in enter- 
prise, "iH't ; writes letter to Cam[)bell, 
7."H; joins Camiibell, Sevier, and 
others at Sycamori' Shoals. 7()<); pro- 
posers that (.'ampbell command, 7<>2; 
addresses the men, 7i>;t: strength of 



Ids party, 784, 780; takes part in 
battle, "7!)0, 7!)1, 792, 795, 797; 
marches into North Carolina, 804. 

Shelby, Moses, brother of Isaac, men- 
tioned, 7r),s. 

Shephard, Captain, killed at Savannah, 
417. 

Shrewsbury, Edward, Tory, entertains 
Andre as a spy, 4S7. 

Shrewsbury, Stephen, tells the story 
of .■Xndre as a spy, 487. 

Shubrick, Jacob, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14; jircsent at battle of Fort 
Moultrie, U^■^. 

Shubrick, Richard, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14; member of Legislative 
Coun<'il, ll.">; ('aptain, present at 
battle of Fort Moultrie, 14.'?: brings 
off rear-guard at Tulliiiny, ;}5li. 

Shubrick, Thomas, estate sequestered 
by Hrilish, 729. 

Signers, Declaration of Independence, 
military service of, '.V)\. 

Simons. Edward, Captain of militia, 
11. 

Simons, Keating, Ensign of militia, 12. 

S.mons, Maurice, Captain of militia, 
!1 ; Colonel commanding brigade at 
Pre'vost's invasion, .">()4; mentioned, 
427 : attends council of war, 472. 

Simpson, Captain, comnianding frig- 
ate, opposes capitulation of Charles- 
town, 49.-). 

Simpson, James, Intendant of Police 
(Hr.). mentioned, 713. 

Simpso ", Rev. John, principal mover 
in affair of .Mobley's Meeting-bouse, 
588; his hou^e and books burue.l, 
.591 ; joins Sumter, 59L 

Singleton, Richard, Colonel of militia, 
12. 

Singleton, Richard, Lieutenant of 
Regulars, 14. 

Singleton, Major, takes part in fight 
at McDowell's camp, t)14. 

Singleton, Thomas, arrested by order 
of Cornwallis, sent exile to St. 
.\if_'nsiiiie. 71i;. 717, 718. 

Sinquefield, Francis, Captain at Ninety- 
Si x, 91. 

Skirving, rei'ment of militia iu 
Moultrie's re reat, 354. 



804 



INDEX 



Slann, Joseph, estate sequestered by 
liiitish, 7-_*;i. 

Sleigh, Samuel, estate sequestered by 
Briiisii, TL'Si. 

Smallpox, prevents militia from en- 
ter! iiii {'harlestown, 4'.i:i. 

Smallwood, General William, of Mary- 
land bri.Ljade, at battle of Canulen, 
()7"); connnissioiied by North Caro- 
lina to eonunand militia, organizes 
force, with Sumter to attack Coru- 
wallis, Sli). 

Smith, Aaron, Captain at Ninety-Six, 
'.MJ; his family and himself massa- 
cred by Indians, 1!»'2. 

Smith, Benjamin, letter of, taken from 
Edward Kutled-e, 4S;i, ¥X). 

Smith, Captain, wounded at Savannah, 
417. 

Smith, Charles, killed at Beaufort, S40. 

Smith, Eleazer, hanged by Corn- 
wallis, 711. 

Smith, John, Adjutant of militia, 12. 

Smith, Josiah, arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, exile to St. Augustine, 
717, 71K, 719. 

Smith, Peter, Ensign of militia, 12. 

Smith, Philip, exile to St. Augustine, 
S->7. 

Smith, Press, Lieutenant of Regulars, 
14. 

Smith, Rev. Robert, Chaplain of artil- 
lery company, 12 ; sermon of, before 
General Assembly, 57 ; estate se- 
questered by British, 729. 

Smith, Roger, Captain of militia, 11; 
elected representative under Consti- 
tution of 1778, 280;-Privy Council, 
282 ; summoned to consider Prevost's 
terms of capitulation, o(j2; at Gov- 
ernor Rutle<lgi''s request, carries 
message to Pre'vost, ;574, 375. 

Smith, Thomas Branford, takes pro- 
tection, 729. 

Smith, William (afterward U. S. Sen- 
ator), takes part in capture of Thick- 
etty Fort, (i;!4. 

Smyth, John, Lieutenant of militia, 12. 

Snow Campaign, 94, 95, 9ii, 97. 

Solomon, Joseph, killed at Beaufort, 
;M(). 

Spartanburg County, mentioned, 10. 



Sphynx, (Br.) ship, takes part in bat- 
tle of Fort Moultrie, 150, 151, 154, 
1.55. 

Stallions, affair at, (K)l. 

Stanyarne, John Raven, takes protec- 
tion, 729. 

Stark, Robert, Colonel of militia, 12. 

Stein, Colonel James, sketch of, takes 
jjart in battle of Musgrove's Mills, 
(iss. 

Stevens, Brigadier General Edward, of 
Virginia, hastens to join De Kalb, 
G57 ; effects junction with Gates, 
()()() ; declares it too late to re.treat, 
(574; his gallant conduct, but his 
Itrigade breaks, ()77. 

Steward, Charles Augustus, Lieuten- 
ant Colonel of militia, 12. 

Stewart, Captain (Br.), at siege of 
Savannah, 411 ; mentioned, 605. 

St. Michael's Steeple, painted black 
and used as watch tower, 449; struck 
by cannon-ball, 471. 

Stokes, Captain John, mutilation of, 
by Tarleton's men, 522, 523. 

Stono. battle at, .382, 383, 384, 385, 380, 
;kS7, 388, 389, 31i0, ;!9I. 

St. Philip's Church, General Assembly 
goes in procession to, on day of fast- 
ing, 57. 

Strong, William, killed, 591. 

Strother, Mr., arrested by Lord Raw- 
don, (il9. 

Stuart, John, suspected and leaves the 
province, IS; tanijiers with Indians, 
."7; instigates uprising, 187, 188. 

Sullivan, Fort, sec Fort Moultrie. 

Sullivan, Mr. John, of New Hampshire, 
mentioned, 105. 

Summer, John Adam, discourages 
movement. 43. 

Sumner, General Jethro. of North Caro- 
lina, on council of war, .349; com- 
mands right wing in battle on Stono, 
387 ; forms part of Smallwood's pro- 
posed expeilition, 819. 

Sumter County, jnenti(uied, 10. 

Sumter, Thomas, mentioned. 13; curi- 
ous circumstance of his tirst appear- 
ance, 88, 89; Lieutenant Colonel, 
commandant of Second Ritle Regi- 
ment, 127; Moultrie ordered to 



INDEX 



895 



(liiach him to attack cnoiuy oji 
1...I1.;,' Island. 144: Colonel of Sixth 
l\i-,i;imeiit, .'lOT) ; skeloh of, 5i)4, ."i()."i, 
."(■.(), 5(J7 ; forms camp in Mcck- 
Icnhurg, North Carolina, voluii- 
toiTS KUthiT around, 577; joins 
Davi- at Landsford, 023; attack 
n|)on liocky Mount and Hanjrinj; 
liock arrant,'ed, «)24 ; Sumter attacks 
Uocky Mount, but fails to carry it, 
and retreats, (>24 ; commands in an- 
other attack on Hanj^ing Hock, (i'JT ; 
is successful, but fruits of victory 
lost. t!2.S; sends Colonel Clarke 
a_i;ainst Ferguson, GiU; proposes to 
dates to intercept convoy to Cam- 
den. i'A'n ; captures convoy and takes 
jirisoners. tiiiS; Davie warns him of 
(Jates's defeat, (WO ; is overtaken by 
Tarleton and his command cut to 
pieces, fWl, (hS2, tks;{; mentioned, 70!); 
establishes himself at Clem's Creek, 
7(ri; his relations to AVillianis, 7(>(l, 
7(57, 7ti.S; retires from command while 
committee protests a;iainst Will- 
iams's appointment as Brigadier 
(ieneral, 7<j8; Tarleton names Jiim 
"(iame Cock," 818; takes post at 
Fisbdam Ford, 821 ; Weiuyss attacks 
Jiim there, 822, 82;?: concerts with 
Clarke, attack upon Ninety-Six, 824 ; 
moves against post at 'Williams's 
plantation, is warned of Tarleton's 
approach and falls back, takes jiost 
at ]*.lackstnek,82."); Tarleton attacks 
him and is defeated. 82(j. 827, 828; 
is wounded, turns command over to 
Twiggs, .'<28: mentioned, 840. 

Sunbury, (ieorgia, I^-icMan Mcintosh 
refuses to surrender. ;>24. 

Syrea, (Hr.) ship, t.-ikes i)art in bat- 
tle of Fort Moultrie, VA), l.~.l, 154, 
l.V,. 

Tables, Statistical, of engagements in 
South Carolina during the year 178t>, 
8.">0. 8.11, 8,".2, S.')."?. 

Tamar, (Hr.) sloop of war, Kirkland 
secreted on board of, ('4 ; McDon.ald's 
visit to, Chi, (!.'»; threatens Fort John- 
son, (>0 ; naval engagement, 75, 715, 77, 
78 ; mentioned, l>8. 

Tarcote Swamp, affair at, 751. 



Tarleton. Lieutenant Colonel Banastre 
(I'.r.). joins raltersdii, 448; sketch 
of, 448; attacks and cuts to jiieces 
llugcr's command at Monek's Cor- 
ner, 4»Jt>, 4()7, 4li8, 4<i'.t; atrocities of 
men of his legion, 409 ; routs Ameri- 
can cavalry at Lenuds's Ferry, 
488 ; sent to Georgetown, 51(i ; nearly 
captures Governor Rutledge, 517 ; 
pursues Buford, 517, 518; overtake; 
and cuts his command to pieces, 519, 
.■)20, 521, 522, 52;{, .^24; falls back 
ami joins Cornwallis at Camden, 
525; his legion mentioned, 502; at- 
tempts to surprise Major James, 
is pursued by JlcCottry, burns 
McCottry's house, (350; deceives 
anil arrests James Bradley, 651 ; 
completes rout of (lates at Camden, 
078 ; pursues, overtakes, and defeats 
Sumter at Fishing Creek, 081, 082, 
0S:5; mentioned, 772; indifferent to 
Ferguson's fate, 80i;, 807; reluc- 
tantly marches, learns of Ferguson's 
(lest ruction, 80.S; dispatched to break 
np Marion's party, 815, 810; burns 
(Tpneral Richardson's residence and 
disinters his body, 816, 817; pursues 
Marion, but fails to overtake him, 
818; attacks Sumter at Blackstock, 
82(!, 827, 828; is defeated, but re- 
ports a victory, 8'29; which is not 
allowed, 8:?0. 

Tarring and Feathering, 24, 25, 58. 

Tawse, Captain (Toiy), at siege of Sa- 
vannah, 41(1; falls defending gate 
of redoubts, 415. 

Taylor, Lieutenant John (Br.), Fer- 
guson's New Jersey Volunteers at 
King's Mountain, 787, 803. 

Taylor, Samuel, Lieutenant of Rangers, 
14. 

Taylor, Colonel Thomas, joins Sumter, 
."i77 ; protests against AVilliams's ap- 
pointnieiit as Brigadier (ii neral, 
708; takes part in battle at Fishdam, 
.821, 822; in battle of Blackstock, 
820, ,S27 ; mentioneil, 849. 

Templeton, Captain, killed, 50(). 

Tennent, Rev. William, member of 
committee of Provincial Congress, 
5; on secret committee, 18; men- 



896 



INDEX 



tioned, 32; mission to interior with 
Drayton, 41, 4'J, 43, 44; mentioned, 
121 ; bt'sins aj,Mtation for disestab- 
lishment of church, 20(5; writes 
memorial on subject, 207; his able 
speech on same, 209, 210, 211 ; his 
death, 434. 
Ternant, Lieutenant Colonel Jean Bap- 
tise (France), sent by Governor 
Rutledfje to Havanna for assist- 
ance, 434; advises with Gadsden 
as to terms of capitulation to be 
demanded, 478. 
Temay, M. de, arrives with French 
fleet and army at Newport, 835, 
845, 84(i ; is " bottled up," 847. 
Theus, Rev. Christian, mentioned, 42. 
Theus, Simeon, Lieutenant of Regu- 
lars, 14. 
Thicketty Fort, capture of, 634, 635. 
Thomas, Colonel John, joins Richard- 
son's snow campaign, 95; elected 
Colonel in place of Fletehall, 608; 
protests against Williams's appoint- 
ment as Brigadier General, 768. 
Thomas, Colonel John, Jr., succeeds 
his father as Colonel, is attacked, 
but, warned by his mother, is pre- 
pared and defeats the enemj', 600; 
mentioned, 61;'., 61(5. 
Thomas, Mrs., rides and gives informa- 
tion ti) her son of coming attack of 
Tories, (i()8, 609. 
Thomas, Colonel Tristram, captures 
British detachment on Pee Dee, 646. 
Thomson, James Hamden, arrested by 
order of Corinvallis, sent e.xile to 
St. Augustine, 724. 
Thomson, William, Colonel of militia, 
12 ; Colonel of Third Regiment, raised 
by Provincial Congress, 15; to 
assist commissioners to interior, 41 ; 
Richardson awaits him, 89; joins 
Richardson's snow campaign, 95; 
his battle with Royalists at Great 
Cane Brake, 97 ; Moultrie ordered 
to detach liim to attack enemy on 
Long Island, 144; posted on Sulli- 
van's Island to oppose British cross- 
ing from Long Island, 145, 146; re- 
pulses attempt to cross, 152, 15:!; 
mentioned, 305; sent to the support 



of Howe, 326 : expected with men 
at Orangeburgh, 488. ' 
Thombrough, Captain Edward, of 
Tamar, (Br.) ship, correspondence 
with Henry Laurens, 70; Drayton 
sends declaration of war to, 74, 75. 

Thomly, Captain, forms nucleus of 
Marion's Ijrigade, 649. 

Ticonderoga, capture of, mentioned, 2. 

Timothy, Peter, letters to Drayton, 
31, 32, 58; thanked for services as 
Clerk of Congress, 84 ; takes post 
in St. Michael's steeple to observe 
British fleet, 449; his account of the 
British fleet crossing the bar, 460; 
arrested by order of Cornwallis, 
sent exile to St. Augustine, 717, 718, 
719. 

Tinning, Colonel, of Xorth Carolina; 
gets into Cliarlestown, 478. 

Todd, John, arrested by order of Corn- 
wallis, sent exile to St. Augustine, 
717, 718, 719. 

Tolemache, Captain, (Br.) ship Tamar, 
refuses to join an attack upon 
Charlestown at the suggestion of 
Lord William Campbell, 98. 

Tomassy, Indian town, destroyed by 
Williamson, 197. 

Tonyn, Patrick, Governor of Florida, 
Charlestown citizens paraded before, 
at St. Augustine, 7'25. 

Toomer, Anthony, arrested by order of 
Cornwallis, sent exile to St. Augus- 
tine, 717, 718, 719. 

Townsend, Paul, Captain of militia, 11 ; 
Paymaster of regiment of artillery, 
82. 

Trapier, Paul, Captain of a.-tillery 
company at Georgetown, 127. 

Trenton, battle of, mentioned, 161, 229, 
420. 

Treville, Captain John da, wounded at 
Sa\annah, 417. 

Triggs, Colonel, of Georgia, takes part 
in battle of Fishdam, 821, 82'2, 8'23. 

Tucker, Richard, hanged by Corn- 
wallis, 71 1. 

Tucker, Captain, of Continental frig- 
ale, oj);)oses surrender of city, 495. 

Tucker, Dr. Thomas Tudor, Surgeon in 
militia, 12. 



INDEX 



897 



1 ^".iS, Captain Simon, conimaiuls in 
A naval l)attl(> in Charlcstown harbor, 
\ 7»), 77, 78; tliankeil by Congress, 7!». 
JTugaloo, Indian town, destroyL-d by 
/ Williamson, 1'.17. 
/ Tullifiny Hill. alTair at. .'..-r.'. 
/ Tumbull. Lieutenant Colonel George 
(Hi-.), Ni'w York N'oluntoers, vvi'<<- 
forces Sir Henry Clinton, 44(J : sta- 
tioned at Roeky Mount , "i*''.' : <>rdercd 
to evacuate Kocky. Mount and join 
I'-";;^" Ml, lyiT,; nientiont'd, (Wl, ()!•,"); 
fiirlities Cani<leii, 812. 
Turner, George, Lieutenant of Kegn- 

lars. 14. 
Turquand. Rev. Paul, performs divine 
service before Froviucial Congress, 
7!l. 
Tutt, Benjamin, Captain at Ninety-Six, 

Tweed, William, trial and execution 
of, M-). .HC, Ml. 

Twiggs, Colonel, of Georgia, takes 
part in battle of Blackstock, 82ti; 
takes command when Sumter is 
womideti, 8'_'8; orders retreat, 820. 

Tynes, Colonel, Tory, defeated by 
Mariiin. 7.">1. 

Tyrrel. .Major of militia, 12. 

Union County, mentionetl, 10, 825. 

Valk, Jacob, an addresser, 53U. 

Vanderhorst. Arnoldus, estate seques- 
tered by liritisb, 72'J. 

Vanderhorst, John, Lieutenant of Reg- 
ulars, 14 ; joins Marion, .">77, G.">1 ; re- 
tires with >Lirion into North Caro- 
lina. 701. 

Vaughn, Brigadier General, lands 
with Sir Henry Clinton on Long 
Island, 14.-). 

Venning, Nicholas, takes protection, 
72'.t. 

Vernier. Major Paul, Pula.ski's legion, 
mentioned, 427; killed at Mouck's 
Corner, WS. 

Vieland, Lieutenant, wounded at 
Savannaii, 417. 

Virginia, quota of t roops of , 289 ; popu- 
lation of. 2*,i4. 

Volunteer Companies, organized, Ki; 
trouble with Charlestown regiment, 
C2, C;5, t>4. 

3u 



Wade, Lieutenant, wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Wagner, George, missionary to German 
settlers, .'vl. 

Wagner, John, an addresser, r)'.]H. 

Wahubs Plantation, affair at, 742, 743. 

Wakefield. James. Ensif^n of militia, 
12; exile to SI. Augustine, 8,57. 

Walker, Lieutenant, wounded at 
Savannah, 41.'{. 417. 

Waller, Benjamin, exile to St. Augus- 
tine. S.-)7. 

Walter, John Allen, Lieutenant of 
Rejiulars, 14. 

Waring, John, takes protection, 721). 

Warley, Felix, Lieutenant of Rangers, 
14; sent with arms and ammunition 
to Major Williamson, 19."). 

Warren. Captain, wounded at Savan- 
nah. 417. 

Washington, Fort, battle of, men- 
tioned. 420. 

Washington, George, mentioned, 16, 
28(); committee of (Congress confer 
with, 287 ; his views upon proper 
military system, 288, 2811; receives 
reports of Sir Henry Clinton's move- 
ment against Charlestown, 427; 
sends North Carolina brigade and 
the Virginia line to Lincoln, 428; 
letterof, on withdrawal of ships from 
Charlestown harbor, 441 ; condition 
of his army, 83t;, 837, SJW, 840, 841, 
842, 843, 844. 

Washington, Colonel William A., meets 
Tarleton, 450; sketch of , 4.">0 ; drives 
back British legion, 451 ; attempt 
to surprise him defeated, 457, 458; 
escapes from Monck's Corner, 468. 

Watauga Settlement, North Caro- 
lina, 7.'>C>-7.">n. 

Wateree Ferry, affair at. &u, 668. 

Waties, Captain Thomas, in action at 
Black Mingo, 74<). 

Watson, Samuel, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Watts, Anthony, wounded at Beau- 
fort, ;uo. 

Waxhaw Settlement, .Md. 

Webster, Lieutenant Colonel James 
(Br.), joins T:irleion in attack upon 
Huger's command at Monck's Cor- 



898 



INDEX 



ner, 4()8, 4C9, 470; mentioned, 544; 
takes part in battle of Camden, 677 ; 
mentioned, SiXJ. 

Wells, John, Jr., an addresser, 5'^^. 

Wells, Robert, opposed to extreme 
measures, 58, 59; his paper converted 
iuto the Roijal (Jaziltp., 185; pub- 
lishes article by Balfour's direction, 
555. 

Wemyss, Major James (Br.), sent to 
crush the Irish at AVilliamsburg, <J41 ; 
his atrocities, 642 ; uieutioned, 707 ; 
burns church at Indian tewn, exe- 
cutes Cusac, and commits further 
atrocities, 747, 748 ; attacks Sumter 
at Fishdam, is defeated, 821, 822, 
823; badly wounded, 823; Sumter's 
generous conduct to, 823. 

Weyman, Edward, member of commit- 
tee of Provincial Congress, 4, 5; 
exile to St. Augustine, 857. 

Whipple, Commodore, reports naval 
defence of Charlestowu unpractica- 
ble, 4.38, 439, 440. 

White, Colonel Anthony Walters, men- 
tioned, 451; routed by Tarleton, 
493, 45V4, 495; strength of his com- 
mand, 837. 

White, Sims, Captain of regiment of 
artillery, 82. 

" White Meetners," mentioned, 206. 

White Plains, battle at, mentioned, 
229, 420. 

Whitefield, Captain George, of Fort 
Cliarlottp, 13. 

Wickham, Lieutenant, killed at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Wilkie, Lieutenant, wounded at Savan- 
nah, 417. 

Wilkins, Lieutenant Benjamin, killed 
at Beaufort, ;i40. 

Wilkinson, Morton, exile to St. Augus- 
tine. 8.57. 

Williams, Charles, Captain at Ninety- 
Six, 90. 

Williams, James, Captain at Ninety- 
Six, 91; sketch of, 687, 688; with 
Shelby and Clarke attacks the Biit- 
ish at Musgrove's Mills, 688, 689, 6'.10, 
691, 692, 693, 6<t4 ; learns of Gates's 
defeat and retreats, 695 ; mentioned, 
709; forms junction with McDowell, 



731; Clarke turns over prisoner.- . 
732 ; arrives at Hillsboro with pris 
oners, Rulledge appoints him Briga 
dier (Tcueral, 765; Sumter's niei 
refuse to recognize him, 766; causi 
of oppo.-^itiou to, 7t)6, 767, 768; com 
mittee sent to Kutledge to protes 
against his a[)i)ointniciit, 7tiS ; 
turns to North Carolina, 769; 
for recrui* ;, organizes a small j..,. . 
with Brando;/ • and Hammond a: 
lieutenants, 769, 770; reiitms u 
South Carolina, claims command 
refused, 770, 771 ; with Brandon gopi 
to the Mountain men to pers> 
them to move on Ninety-Six. 
773; is forestalled by Lacey, 773, 771 
strength of his party at King'; 
Mountain, 789; takes part in th( 
battle, 794, 795, 796 ; is killed, 801 
mentioned, 850. 

Williams, John, killed at Beaufort 
:mo. 

Williams, Colonel Otho H., of Mary 
land, fjuoted, G.59, (itiO; describei 
Marion, 577 ; informs Gates of Corn 
wallis's advance, 674; takes part ii 
battle of Camden, 677. 

Williamson, Andrew, Major of militia 
12; arrests Robert Cuniugham, 86 
embodies militia to recover amniu 
nition seized by Patrick Cuningham 
forms camp at Long Cane, 87 ; lettei 
to Indian agent, 87 ; retires to Ninety 
Six, 90 ; battle of Ninety-Six, 90, 91 
enters into treaty with Robinsoi 
and others, 92, 93 ; mentioned, 95 
joins Richardson's snow campaign 
97 ; sends McCall to capture Cam 
eron, 189; marches against Chero 
kees, 194; is joined by .severa 
parties, li»4, 195; is surprised aiK 
aml)uscaded, 1!M> ; retreats, is joinei 
by Neel and Thomas, 15)6 ; madi 
Colonel, resumes offensive, burn: 
Indian towns, 197; erects a fort 
calls it Fort Rutledge, i;»8; crushe! 
Cherokees, 198,199; takes part ii 
Howe's invasion of Florida, 322 
appointed Brigadier General, 331 
movements of, .3.3(>; Colonel Prevosi 
makes proposition to, 'M.S\ men 



INDEX 



899 



uf 



tioncd, 371, SltG; at siege of Savan- 
iiiih, 41."?; camp at Augusta, 4.'^3; 
liaiigs upon tianks of I'atterson, 447; 
cxju'i'ted witli men at Orangcburgh, 
4.S.S; floiid over his «'oii(liU't, 5li7, 
.VJ8; at rnefting of neighbors callod 
Id i-oiisith-r course to 1)0 pursued 
urges inovciiicnt into North Caro- 
lina, makes spirited address, 531; 
acquiesces and remains at home, 
takes protection and goes to Charles- 
town, i)li'2, o33. 

Williamson, William, member of Pro- 
vincial Congress, .j ; his course in 
committee, 30. 

Williamson's Plantation, (Br.) post at, 
Sumter throatfus, ^'2'>. 

Williman, Christopher, au addresser, 
')M>. 

Wilson, James, of Pennsylvania, op- 
poses Declaration of ludepeudenee, 

it;s. 

Wilson, Robert, an addresser, .ISG. 

Winn, Richard, Lieutenant of Rangers, 
14 ; joins Sumter, 577 ; protests 
against Williams's appointment as 
Brigadier General, 7<)8; at Fishdam 
with Sumter, 820; takes part in 
battle, 821, 822 ; takes part in battle 
..f Blackstock, 82(5, 827, 828, 829. 

Winn, Mr., imprisoned by Lord Raw- 
don, (ill). 

Winnsboro, (Br.) post established at, 
and LordCornwallis's headquarters, 
sil. 

Winston, Major, of North C'ar(tlina, 
menlinncd, 732; with Cleveland at 
King's Mountain, 7<11. 

Wise, Samuel, Captain of Rangers, 14. 



Withers, Richard, estate sequestered 
by British, 72'.t. 

Witherspoon, Captain Gavin, joins 
Marion, "i77, (>4'.l. 

Wofford Iron Works, mentioned, (i3y. 

Woodford, Colonel William, of Virginia, 
great march tu Cbarlestown, 428, 
421); arrives, 458; altcnd.s council 
of war, 472; mentioned, 507; 
strength of brigade, 837. 

Woodward, John, Lieutenant of Rang- 
ers, 14. 

Woodward, Thomas, Captain of Rang- 
ers, 14 ; trouble with his men, 
42. 

Woolford, Colonel, of Maryland, de- 
tached to assist Sumter to capture 
convoy, 6(i8. 

Wragg, John, an addresser, 536. 

Wragg. William, his case before com- 
mittee, 2(i, 27; refuses to sign as- 
sociation, 28; is contiiied to his 
barony, afterward exiled, perishes 
at sea, 2!t. 
j Wright, Governor James, of Georgia, 
I nientioiiud, 411. 

I Wright, Major James, commands re- 
I rtoubt at siege of Savannah, 411. 
1 Wyley, John, mentioned, 524. 
i Wyley, Samuel, murder of, 524. 
j Wylie, Captain (Tory), at the siege of 
Savannah, 410. 

Wythe .NJeorge, his position in re- 
gard to K('\olution, 169. 

York County, mentioned, 11. 

Young, Captain Thomas, mentioned, 
COO, 601. 

Ziegler, Thomas, estate sequestered 
by British, 729. 



; 



) 



fHE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER THE 
PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT, 1670-1719 

By EDWARD HcCRADY, a Member of the Bar of Charleston, S.C, and President of 
the Historical Society of South Carolina. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top. pp. xxi + 762. Price, 
$j.5o ufl. 

" Unquestionably a valuable contribution to American historical literature. It covers a 
field that no one else has hitherto attempted to adequately treat of. It evidences a vast amount 
of research into musty archives and an instinct that guided the author to a discriminating 
selection of material. . . . The future must surely be indebted to Mr. McCrady in no 
mean degree." — St. Louts Globe Democrat. 

" An exhaustive study of the period to which it is devoted, and in the field of American 
colonial history is fairly to be called a contribution of the first order." — V'/ie Nation. 

" Colonel McCrady has made a notable contribution to American historical literature, and has 
written one of the best books that treat of Colonial times. It is a treasury of learned research 
and a worthy monument to the State to whose eloquent and tragic story he has devoted his 
pen." — New York Times. 

" The spirit of the entire work is calm and judicial ; its estimates of men are discriminating, 
and the style, which is always excellent, rises occasionally to the display of not a little vigor 
and picluresqueness of statement. This is especially marked in the later chapters. The author 
is imbued throughout with the true historical spirit which desires above all else to set down 
things as they actually occurred." — Boston Transcript. 



THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER THE 
ROYAL GOVERNMENT, I7I9-I776. 

By EDWARD McCRADY. a Member of the Bar of Charleston, S.C, and President of 
the Historical Society of South Carolina: author of " The History of South Carolina under 
the Proprietary Government." 8vo. Cloth, gilt top. pp. xxviii + 847. Price, $3.50 «f/. 

" 5>eldom has such careful research, so much insight, and such bre.idth of comprehension 
been applied to the delineation of any part of our colonial history. The 800 pages comprised 
in this volume before us represent an immense amount of first hand investigation, of faithful 
comparison of authorities, of studious selection and condensation." — M. W. H. in TAe New 
Y'ork Sun. 

" Mr. McCrady gives a full account of the settlement and development of the country, 
together with sketches of the social life, which early became marked, near the coast at least, by 
ease and comfort, due to the wealth acquired through a profitable foreign commerce. The 
author understands well how to intersperse lighter details with m.itters of greater importance, 
so as to relieve his work of any suspicion of dryness." — Proz'idence yournal. 

" A highly creditable performance, showing a most thorough acquaintance with the sub- 
ject." — New i'orJk Times. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA IN THE 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 

An Inquiry into the flaterial Condition of the People, Based 
upon Original and Contemporaneous Records 

By PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE, author of " The Plantation Negro as a Freeman," 
ami Coirosponding Secrcl:iry of the Virginia Historical Society. In two volumes. 
Crown 8vo. Cloth, gilt tops. Vol. 1, pp. xix + 634. Vol. II, pp. vi + 647. Price, $6 tiet. 

" One of the most valuable contributions to the intimate historic.il knowledge of America. 
This work will be useful for all time, and not merely to the lay reader who wishes to know 
accurately concerning the early conditions of life in Virginia, but to the political economist 
and the social scientist, who are laboring to advance the substantial interests of the world." — 
I'hiladelpkia Evening Telegraph. 

"To systematic American Colonial history library catalogues contain no single title more 
valuable than the one before us. The student of American history is here put in possession of 
an account of the state of the people in one of the principal and most significant colonies, that 
will be accepted as final within its adopted field." — Xcvj York Evening Sun. 

" Mr. Bruce's work is exhaustive, thorough, thoughtful, interesting, unique. Let it never 
again be said that the American historian lacks patience. The mass of manuscripts and 
records from which the author has gleaned the pith and point and spirit is absolutely monu- 
mental. . . . These two volumes of 600 pages each are crammed with crisp and interesting 
matter. ... So conscientiously has he observed his 'limitations, and so spiritedly has he 
treated his matter, that his readers will not only forgive his voluminousness, but will hope 
that he may live to write many more volumes like these." — Chicago Tribune. 

THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH 

By JAMES BRVCE, author of" The Holy Roman Empire," M. P. for Aberdeen. In two 
volumes. Third edition, completely revised throughout, with additional chapters. Crown 
8vo. Cloth, gilt tops. 

Vol.1. The National Government — The State Government, pp. xix + 724. Price, $1.75 «^^. 

•Vol. II. The Party System — Public Opinion — Illustrations and Reflections — Social Insti- 
tutions, pp. 904. Price, $2.25 net. 

The two volumes in a box, $4.00 net. 
" It is not too much to call ' The American Commonwealth ' one of the most distinguished 
additions to political and social science which this generation has seen. It has done, and will 
continue to do, a great work in informing the world concerning the principles of this govern- 
ment." — Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. 

" No enlightened American can desire a better thing for his country than the widest dif- 
fusion and the most thorough reading of Mr. Bryce's impartial and penetrating work." — 
Literary World. 

" The great quality of his work is that it has been prepared with a sense of justice and a 
f lirncss of statement which makes it an authority not only for foreigners, but for native Ameri- 
cans. It has been and will long contiiuie to be the book that all young men will study as an 
introduction to their knowledge of American institutions, and it will do more to form the 
political education of the next generation than any other kind of teaching."' — Boston Herald. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 






jO 



0^ 






. A 


















a\^' •^>. 






'^>, 












V^ 



>^\ \ , ^ " * ^'b. .O*^"" c ° "^ '- ♦ '"-e^' ' " ' ^'^^ , ^ " * % 



n>V 



.s^^ 



>.^^ "'^^. . 
^^. 



v(^^^ 









.#• 



-^^^^ 



' , V -* ^0 



0^ 
•0/ 



■■>. 



■J- .s\ 

V' >; 






■^^.o^ 









'^^6^ 






X^^r. 










^■p. <^ 



.^ -^^. 



^^^ 






\^°^. 









y'j. v" 






,0 c. 



v^' ''- 






^Ir:: ' :^-< ■i^^^^iM^ii3?'ri{^'^''v^'^■ 



